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The  Vale  of  Kashmir. — See  page  36. 


o' 


t*he:  uimkimowim  life 

OF 

JESUS  CHRIST. 

FROM  AN  ANCIENT  MANUSCRIPT, 

RECENTLY  DISCOVERED  IN  A BUDDHIST  MONASTERY  IN  THIBET 
BY  NICHOLAS  NOTOVITCH, 

TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  FRENCH  AND  EDITED  WITH  AN 
INTRODUCTION  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS 

— 

VIRCHAND  R.  GANDHI,  B.  A 

BOMBAY,  INDIA. 


REVISED  BY 

PROF.  G.  L.  CHRISTIE,  B.  A 

OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  PARIS. 


CHICAGO: 

PROGRESSIVE  THINKER  PUBLISHING  HOUSE, 
1907. 


COPYRIGHT,  i8v4 


N SAjtcL 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 


Preface vii 

Translator’s  Introduction xi 

Journey  to  Thibet 33 

The  Life  of  Saint  Issa 58 

Summary 99 


469149 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

The  Vale  of  Kashmir Frontispiece 

Shrinagar : vi 

The  Himis  Monastery xiii 

Inscription  in  the  Himis  Monastery xiv 

Solomon’s  Throne 32 

M.  Notovitch  on  the  March 35 

Hari  Parvat 57 

The  Seventh  Bridge  of  Shrinagar 6^ 

The  Carriers  of  M.  Notovitch 73 

The  Shaky  Bridge  of  Kashmir 81 

Scene  Near  Surghol 89 

A Buddhist  Monastery  in  Ladak 97 

Lamieroo 105 

Leh,  as  seen  from  outside  the  city 113 

Leh,  as  seen  from  the  market-place 12 1 


W. 


Shrinagar. — See  page  40. 


PREFACE. 


Subsequent  to  the  Turkish  war  (1877-1878)  I un- 
dertook a series  of  journeys  in  the  Orient.  Having 
visited  all  the  localities,  more  or  less  remarkable,  of 
the  Balkan  Peninsula,  I crossed  the  Caucasus  mountain 
to  Central  Asia  and  Persia,  and  finally  in  1887  I started 
for  India,  a most  extraordinary  country,  which  had  at- 
tracted me  from  my  early  days. 

The  aim  of  my  journey  was  to  become  acquainted 
with  the  inhabitants  of  India,  and  to  study  on  the  spot 
their  manners  and  customs,  the  grand  and  mysterious 
archaeology,  and  the  colossal  and  majestic  nature  of 
this  country.  Wandering  from  one  place  to  another, 
without  a settled  plan,  I reached  the  mountainous  Af- 
ghanistan, from  where  I reached  India  by  the  pictur-^ 
esque  passes  of  Bolan  and  Guernai.  Having  ascended 
the  Indus  as  far  as  Rawal  Pindi,  I crossed  the  Punjab, 
the  country  of  the  five  rivers,  and  visited  the  Golden 
Temple  of  Armitsar  and  the  tomb  of  Ranjit  Sing,  the 
king  of  the  Punjab,  near  Lahore.  I then  directed  my  steps 
towards  Kashmir,  “the  valley  of  eternal  felicity.”  There 
in  order  to  satisfy  my  curiosity,  I recommenced  my 
wanderings  and  continued  them  until  I arrived  at  Ladak, 
whence  I decided  to  return  to  Russia,  through  Karak- 
orroum  and  Chinese  Turkestan. 

One  day  in  the  course  of  my  visit  to  the  Buddhist 
convent,  situated  on  my  route,  I learnt  from  the  chief 
Lama,  that  there  existed  in  the  archives  of  Lassa  very 
ancient  memoirs  treating  of  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ  and 
the  nations  of  the  Occident,  and  that  certain  great 


PREFACE. 


viii 

monasteries  possessed  copies  and  translations  of  those 
chronicles.  As  there  was  little  probability  that  I should 
again  visit  those  countries,  I postponed  to  a future  date 
my  return  to  Europe,  and,  cost  what  it  might,  I resolved 
either  to  secure  those  copies  from  the  great  convents, 
or  at  any  rate  go  to  Lassa  for  further  information  on 
the  subject — a journey  far  from  being  so  dangerous  and 
difficult  as  we  are  led  to  believe.  Moreover,  by  this 
time  I was  so  well  accustomed  to  these  kinds  of  perils 
that  they  could  not  deter  me  from  my  undertaking. 

During  my  stay  at  Leh,  the  capital  of  Ladak,  I vis- 
ited the  great  monastery  of  Himis,  situated  near  the  city. 
The  chief  Lama  of  the  monastery  told  me  that  the 
monastic  library  contained  some  copies  of  the  manu-* 
script  in  question.  Lest  I should  awaken  the  suspicion 
of  the  authorities  on  the  object  of  my  visit  to  the  con- 
vent, and  thereby  find  obstacles  in  my  character  as  a 
Russian  in  my  future  journey  in  Thibet,  I determined  to 
leave  the  capital  of  Ladak,  and  departed  for  India. 
An  unfortunate  fall,  by  which  I broke  my  leg,  furnished 
me  with  an  unexpected  pretext  to  return  to  the  monas- 
tery, where  I received  excellent  care;  and  during  my 
short  stay  with  the  Lamas,  I had  the  honor  of  obtaining 
the  consent  of  their  chief  to  have  brought  from  the  li- 
brary the  manuscript  relating  to  Jesus  Christ,  and,  aided 
by  my  interpreter,  who  translated  for  me  from  the  Thibe- 
tan language,  I wrote  down  carefully  the  verses  as  they 
were  read  by  the  Lama. 

Not  doubting  at  all  the  authenticity  of  this  chroni- 
cle, related  with  great  exactitude  by  the  Brahmin  histo- 
rians and  by  the  Buddhists  of  India  and  Nepal,  I de- 
termined upon  my  return  to  Europe  to  publish  the 
translation.  With  this  object  I addressed  myself  to 
several  well-known  ecclesiastics,  requesting  them  to  re- 
vise these  notes,  and  to  give  me  their  opinion  of  them. 


PREFACE. 


IX 


His  Lordship,  Bishop  Platon,  the  celebrated  Met- 
ropolitan of  Kiew,  admitted  that  this  discovery  was  of 
great  importance;  he,  however,  endeavored  to  dissuade 
me  from  giving  publicity  to  the  memoirs,  declaring  that 
their  publication  would  only  injure  me.  Why?  This  the 
venerable  prelate  refused  to  tell  me  more  explicitly. 
Our  conversation,  however,  having  taken  place  in  Rus- 
sia, where  censure  might  have  vetoed  such  a work,  I de- 
termined to  wait. 

A year  later  I happened  to  be  in  Rome.  There  I 
submitted  my  manuscript  to  a cardinal  who  has  great 
influence  with  the  Pope,  and  who  answered  me  as  fol- 
lows: “What  is  the  use  of  having  that  published;  no 
one  will  attach  any  great  importance  to  it,  and  you  will 
only  create  numerous  enemies.  Nevertheless,  you  are 
still  young.  If  it  is  a question  of  money  which  interests 
you,  I can  obtain  for  you  a recompense  in  exchange 
for  your  notes  which  will  remunerate  you  well  for  all 
expense  and  for  the  time  lost.'’  Naturally,  I refused. 

At  Paris  I spoke  of  my  project  to  Cardinal  Rotelli, 
whose  acquaintance  I had  made  at  Constantinople.  He 
also  opposed  the  publication  of  my  work  under  the 
pretext  that  it  would  be  premature.  “ The  church,”  he 
added,  “suffers  already  too  much  from  this  new  current 
of  atheistic  ideas,  and  you  will  only  furnish  new  pasture 
to  the  culumniators  and  slanderers  of  the  Evangelical 
doctrine.  I say  this  in  the  interest  of  all  Christian 
churches.”  After  this  I called  on  M.  Jules  Simon.  He 
found  that  my  communication  was  a very  interesting 
one  and  recommended  me  to  ask  the  advice  of  M.  Renan, 
upon  the  best  way  to  publish  the  memoirs. 

The  next  day  found  me  in  the  office  of  the  great 
philosopher.  At  the  end  of  our  conversation,  M.  Renan 
proposed  to  me  to  intrust  the  memoirs  in  question  to 
him,  so  that  he  might  be  able  to  make  a report  to  the 


X 


PREFACE. 


Academy.  This  proposition  was,  as  anyone  may  easily 
understand,  very  tempting  and  flattering.  I,  however, 
carried  away  the  work  under  the  pretext  of  revis- 
ing it  once  more.  I foresaw  in  truth  that  if  I accepted 
this  combination,  I would  only  enjoy  the  honor  of  hav- 
ing discovered  the  Chronicle,  while  the  illustrious  au- 
thor of  the  “ Life  of  Jesus'’  would  have  all  the  glory  of 
the  publication  and  the  commentaries.  Beleiving  my- 
self sufficiently  well  prepared  to  publish  alone  the  trans- 
lation of  the  Chronicles  with  notes,  I declined  the  very 
gracious  offer  which  M.  Renan  had  made.  In  order 
not  to  wound  the  susceptibility  of  the  great  master,  for 
whom  I entertained  a profound  respect,!  resolved  to  wait 
till  his  death — a fatal  event  which  could  not  be  far  dis- 
tant, judging  from  his  general  feebleness. 

A short  time  after  the  death  of  M.  Renan,  I wrote 
to  M.  Jules  Simon  asking  his  advice.  He  replied  that 
it  was  for  me  to  avail  myself  of  the  opportunity  that  was 
presented  for  placing  the  memoirs  before  the  public. 
I then  put  my  notes  in  order,  and  am  now  having  them 
published,  reserving  the  right  to  affirm  the  authenticity 
of  the  chronicles.  I set  forth  in  my  commentaries  the 
argument  which  should  convince  us  of  the  sincerity  and 
good  faith  of  the  Buddhist  compilers.  I add  that  be- 
fore criticising  my  work,  the  learned  societies  could, 
without  much  expense,  organize  a scientific  expedition, 
having  for  its  mission  the  study  of  these  manuscripts 
on  the  spot  and  thus  verify  their  historical  value 

Nicholas  Notovitch. 


TRANSLATOR’S  INTRODUCTION. 


The  work,  the  translation  of  which  I now  put  before 
the  public,  has  created  much  comment  among  the 
thinking  people  all  the  world  over,  and  journalists  have 
written  both  favorable  and  hostile  criticisms  on  it.  I 
shall  not  devote  the  pages  of  this  work  to  a considera- 
tion of  those  criticisms.  Having,  however,  been  born 
in  India  and  traveled  over  that  vast  country,  I feel  it 
my  duty  to  put  before  the  reader  some  salient  points 
which  seem  to  me  to  have  an  important  bearing  on  the 
facts  set  forth  by  the  work. 

I do  not  know  why  Christian  theologians  misrepre- 
sent the  facts,  which  they  can,  if  they  intend  to  be  truth- 
ful, put  before  the  intelligent  public  in  their  true  light. 
I can  cite  numerous  instances  in  which  reverend  gentle- 
men have,  intentionally  or  unintentionally,  distorted, 
mangled  and  murdered  the  truth — I do  not  know  with 
what  object.  The  intelligent  public  of  this  country  are 
well  acquainted  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Edward  Everett 
Hale,  of  Boston,  and  had  I not  known  him  at  all  I 
would  have  said  that  he  had  intentionally  misrepre- 
sented the  facts  when  he  wrote  an  article  in  the  North 
American  Review  (May,  1894)  on  “The  Unknown 
Life  of  Jesus  Christ;”  but  knowing,  as  I do,  of  his  broad 
views  and  catholic  spirit,  I would  simply  attribute  his 
statements  in  that  article  to  ignorance  on  the  subject. 
That  Reverend  gentleman,  while  criticizing  this  work 
(The  Unknown  Life  of  Jesus  Christ),  says:  “But  now 
Mr.  Notovitch  comes  to  the  front  and  remembers  that 


Xll 


INTRODUCTION. 


he  has  an  excellent  Life  of  Christ  which  he  found  in  a 
somewhat  mythical  convent  in  Thibet,  some  years  ago,” 
meaning  thereby  the  convent  of  Himis,  where  Mr. 
Notovitch  discovered  the  manuscripts,  and  further  on: 
“ he  visited  the  convent  of  Himis,  which  we  do  not  find 
on  our  own  calendar  of  Buddhist  ecclesiastical  establish- 
ment near  Leh,  the  capital  of  Ladak.”  Monstrous 
statements!  The  monastery  of  Himis  is  one  of  the 
most  well-known  institutions  in  Thibet,  and  very  few  per- 
sons who  have  traveled  in  Ladak  have  failed  to  visit  that 
monastery.  ProfessorSir  Monier  Monier-Williams  makes 
mention  of  this  monastery  in  his  work  on  Buddhism 
(p.  433,  English  edition,  1889)  in  these  words:  “ Hence 
large  monastic  institutions  are  often  found  in  solitary 
places  and  elevated  situations;  for  instance,  in  Ladak 
those  at  Lama  Yurru  and  Himis  are  more  than  11,000 
feet  above  the  sea,  and  that  at  Hanle  is  14,000  feet. 
They  resemble  romantic  castles  towering  upwards  in 
the  midst  of  rocks,  crags  and  snowy  mountains.”  In 
the  years  1854-58  a scientific  mission  was  undertaken 
by  the  brothers  Hermann,  Adolphe  and  Robert  de 
Schlagintweist  to  India  and  High  Asia;  they  also  vis- 
ited various  parts  of  Thibet  and  the  Buddhist  countries 
in  the  Himalaya.  The  first  of  them  visited  the  monas- 
tery of  Himis  in  September,  1856,  and  got  an  exact 
copy  of  a curious  inscription  relating  to  the  founding  of 
the  institution,  which  is  carved  on  a stone  slab  in  the 
monastery,  and  of  which  I here  give  a copy  and  the 
translation  for  the  information  of  my  readers.  I also 
give  a picture  of  the  monastery,  so  that  they  may  be 
assured  of  its  existence. 

The  inscription  is  divided  into  two  paragraphs,  the 
first  of  which  begins  with  a hymn  to  the  Buddhist  triad: 

“ Hail!  Praise  be  and  benediction!  Salutation  to 
the  teachers!  To  the  most  perfect,  eminent  Buddha, 


The  Himis  Monastery 


A§c:-  I I |a! A-  a»f)-«v  3-«X’S**)s. I 

|q-  V***  j;c*  ^pii^  Ag- 

fix.  •a^-;;c;-ji4c;?)  | | I | pJi**ix,‘«i<j*Sj?i*q|^* 

■*>•^2,  'n^  I I gij«*  g ‘ouAJi’?'? 

« I I i «i*i-  »ix  g Af *)•  *»A 

p-o-wAt;-  c:^-  i^?i-»i«*i-«-l*>^qQAg^’'>i«A^*«^'^*«-  £*^^*;^c;a^Is' 

<lc»*<i?)-gi|-|u-£4«A«’*iC»»-,g*i'g‘ay^**i‘5^A3^*«A«|*«»i*ao:Aq«|«i  |)  1 1 

ST3*  1 A^3*xkCiA»»-3’»'  ^^-gA-g^- 

3*>'x^*»*^|i’«A’3-^^*«Qo>‘«|^«i*:^5|a.-^3*|j-*A-g*jA«:-a«i|  |i*i»iA*p*aii,A^*^v|zs*i.«^AA«3*aV 
«A^-‘^»j*3j-«-^-nk3«Ag»«'W3A'^^Ac;T;q*u««jA*  s-Jjc;-  qg^AA-g^-asEVq'g'^^'g^-gA-JifJii- 

^5*''"''g»j-qq-'>n)AVn w|a  •gA-'^i.-3'r|A Afi-<:j*i»)*^«|-  g«-  5 '|c;A*5^-^q- ( ■a»»i-g-|ojA*  ^?i* 

A«iA*3«J^A^i»-3q-|  1 aaak-^*  5*aw|*SjA?i*«'aw«3-g’gc^';^;^A-33A- 

g-aq--^qfJ-q^*V^c:  | a>e:«-gc;-pq'q*^£;-|  jq^-qal-^y  qj;^q|-iV»^«|-|A*>c;»IA5?l| 

A^AW«'^3A-3q.-|  I 33f|-«aq-3«<|-3gc-q»JIJ-|jk  |«A»»'gVT*’V^'’l*S'l'^‘ 

qv^c*!  |g«i»)Agvwq^V‘»|*’'®'’‘>£V3^‘^’»l 

^^  qj-aiAqi^Aq-agq)  q^^*«Js-p-^»>-gAqq|  I 

qQq*5q-^Aqq»?-^i'aq-|z  gi'^ii  g.  |)i-ui-fe-rg*^*Bi||  n 


The  Inscription  in  the  Himis  Monastery. 


IRTRODUCTION. 


XV 


who  has  the  characteristic  signs  and  proportions;  to  the 
excellent  law,  which  reveals  the  entire  truth;  to  the 
congregation  of  the  faithful,  who  endeavor  to  become 
delivered;  all  honor  be  to  these  three  Supremacies  after 
a prostration  at  the  feet  of  the  superiors  [Lamas.]” 

The  remainder  of  the  first  paragraph  relates  the 
faithful  adherence  to  Buddhism,  of  the  founder  of  this 
monastery,  Dharmaraja  Senge  Nampar  Gyalva,  and  his 
father,  and  the  universal  reverence  paid  by  the  Lada- 
kians  to  the  holy  triad.  It  is  stated  that  Senge  Nampar 
ordered  to  be  built  in  his  territory  the  “ Vihara  [mon- 
astery] of  the  three  gems,”  on  a magnificent  style,  and 
named  it  “ the  Sangye  chi  ku  sung  thug  chi  ten,”  i.  e. 
the  support  of  the  meaning  of  Buddha’s  precepts, 
whence  the  sun  of  the  doctrine  arose  in  this  country 
brilliant  as  the  dawn  of  the  day.”  It  is  further  reported 
that  in  the  reign  of  this  monarch  many  most  learned 
and  powerful  Lamas  had  come  to  Ladak  and  taught  the 
doctrine.  The  names  of  some  of  them  are  mentioned. 

The  second  paragraph  mentions  that  the  erection 
of  the  convent  was  entrusted  to  Pal-dan-tsa-vai  Lama, 
who  had  dwelt  in  numerous  monasteries,  and  had  be- 
come firm  and  strong  in  the  ten  commandments. 

The  edifice  was  commenced  in  the  month  Voda,  in 
a certain  year  which  in  the  Thibetan  astronomy  is  named 
“ the  male  water-horse  year,”  and  was  finished  in  the 
“ male  water-tiger  year,”  when  the  Lama  performed  the 
ceremony  of  consecration,  which  is  a sign  of  comple- 
tion. “ In  the  male  iron-dog  year”  were  placed,  outside 
the  enclosure,  300,000  prayer-cylinders.  The  document 
concludes  by  alluding  to  the  merits  which  the  king,  the 
workmen  (the  masons,  carpenters,  porters)  and,  in  fact, 
all  engaged  in  the  construction  of  this  monastery,  had 
derived  from  their  assistance,  and  mentions  in  particular 
the  salutary  influence  which  the  monastery  will  exer- 


XVI 


INTRODUCTION. 


cise  in  future  upon  the  welfare  and  salvation  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Ladak.  The  monastery  was  commenced 
in  1644  A.  C.  and  finished  in  1664. 

If,  notwithstanding  these  facts,  the  Himis  monas- 
tery is  “a  mythical  convent”  or  that  “we  do  not  find 
[it]  on  our  own  calendar  of  Buddhist  ecclesiastical  in- 
stitutions,” the  native  of  Central  Africa  may  as  well  say 
that  Chicago  is  a city  existing  only  in  the  imagination 
of  the  Americans,  or  the  inhabitant  of  the  Fiji  islands 
may  say  he  does  not  find  Palestine  on  his  own  list  of 
Christian  holy  places.  We  can  excuse  these  persons 
for  their  ignorance,  but  not  a Doctor  of  Divinity  like 
Rev.  Dr.  Hale. 

M.  Notovitch,  having  in  his  journey  broken  his  leg, 
was  obliged  to  stay  for  a short  time  at  the  monastery  of 
Himis,  where  he  received  medical  aid.  This  hospital- 
ity of  the  Buddhist  monks  is  interpreted  in  a half  sneer- 
ing, half  sarcastic  way  by  Dr.  Hale,  thus:  “ It  was  as  if 
a Buddhist  delegate  to  the  Parliament  of  Religions  had 
been  wounded  in  watching  a Princeton  foot-ball  match 
and  Dr.  McCosh  had  received  him  to  his  hospitality. 
What  more  natural  than  that  Dr.  McCosh  should  give 
his  guest  a New  Testament?”  To  a person  educated  to 
think  that  he  is  insulted  if  a stranger  happens  to  talk 
familiarly  with  him,  without  an  introduction.  Ori- 
ental hospitality  may  seem  an  improbability;  but, 
despite  the  gratuitous  assumptions  of  Western  schol- 
ars who  have  never  visited  India,  that  hospitality 
is  still  there.  It  is  in  the  hundreds  of  Dharmashalas 
[inns]  erected  by  the  Jains  of  India  at  most  of  their 
important  towns,  in  which  travelers  can  rest  for  a time 
free  of  charge,  and  at  several  places  even  meals  can  be 
had  on  the  same  terms.  It  is  found,  in  the  words  of 
Sir  William  Hunter,  “ in  that  gentleness  and  charity  to 
all  men,  which  takes  the  place  of  a poor  law  in  India, 


INTRODUCTION. 


XVil 


and  gives  a high  significance  to  the  half  satirical  epi« 
thet  of  the  ‘ mild’  Hindu.” 

I shall  not  dwell  on  other  points  misrepresented  in 
Dr.  Hale’s  article,  dismissing  them  simply  with  the  re- 
mark that  it  has  been  a sad  fatality  that  Orientals  and 
their  religions,  manners  and  customs  have  always  been 
misconstrued  by  people  who  have  no  right  to  speak 
thereon  without  making  a thorough  study  of  them. 

India  has  been  the  dreamland  of  many  scholars. 
Students,  philosophers  and  antiquarians,  see  visions 
of  India.  More  than  a hundred  years  ago  (August 
1783)  Sir  William  Jones  saw  a vision  while  standing 
alone  on  the  deck  of  his  vessel  en  route  to  India.  “It 
gave  me,”  he  says,  “inexpressible  pleasure  to  find 
myself  in  the  midst  of  so  noble  an  amphitheatre,  almost 
encircled  by  the  vast  regions  of  Asia,  which  has  ever 
been  esteemed  the  nurse  of  science,  the  inventress  of 
delightful  and  useful  arts,  the  scene  of  glorious  actions, 
fertile  in  the  productions  of  human  genius,  and  infin- 
itely diversified  in  forms  of  religion  and  government, 
in  the  laws,  manners,  customs,  as  well  as  in  the  features 
and  complexions  of  men.” 

This  grand  man  knew  how  to  make  his  dream  come 
truo,  and  change  his  vision  into  a reality.  He  startled 
European  scholars  by  his  translation  of  Shakuntala, 
“One  of  the  greatest  curiosities,”  as  he  said  in  his  pre- 
face, “that  the  literature  of  Asia  has  yet  brought  to 
light.”  He  also  translated  the  laws  of  Manu,  founded 
the  Asiatic  Society  of  Bengal,  and  achieved  marvelous 
results  in  the  researches  of  ancient  literature  of  India. 
Colebrook,  H.  H.  Wilson,  and  many  others  followed 
him,  and  to-day  we  have  a mass  of  Sanscrit  and  Pra- 
krit literature,  Hindu,  Jain  and  Buddhist,  lying  before 
the  European  scholars,  giving  a clue  to  India’s  ancient 
history. 


XVili  INTRODUCTION. 

If  we  are  proud  of  these  learned  scholars  who  have 
disclosed  to  the  Western  nations  the  ancient  glory  and 
civilization  of  India,  we  cannot  help  being  ashamed  of 
several  short-sighted  Europeans,  and  Americans  too, 
who  think  that  “India  has  no  history  worth  mentioning 
until  the  time  of  the  Mahomedan  conquest;”  “that 
Indian  history  is  nothing  but  a dreary  record  of  disun- 
ion and  subjection,”  and  who  on  the  whole  present  to 
the  public,  India  as  a conquered  country.  But  the 
careful  student  of  Indian  antiquities  and  literature  is 
convinced  that  they  present  a history  of  Hindu  civiliza- 
tion for  thousands  of  years  so  full  and  clear  “that  he 
who  runs  may  read.” 

The  theory  that  Jesus  at  the  age  of  thirteen 
went  to  India  has  been  held  by  many  to  be  true,  but  it 
is  for  the  first  time  advanced  publicly  by  M.  Notovitch. 
Orthodox  Christians  would  deem  it  sacrilegious  even 
to  imagine  that  the  “Son  of  God”  went  to  India  and 
there  studied  its  religions  and  philosophies.  We  shall 
examine  the  facts  which  will  help  us  to  reason  on  this 
point. 

Christian  divines  have  described  India  as  a heathen 
country  both  materially  and  spiritually.  Comparisons 
are  frequently  drawn  between  the  civilization  of 
Ancient  India  and  Europe,  and  a missionary  in  India 
has  taken  great  pains  to  show  that  Hindu  civilization 
was  nothing  in  comparison  with  modern  Western  civil- 
ization. He  also  thinks  that  the  civilization  of  ancient 
India  represented  only  the  infancy  of  civilization.  To 
him  the  glorious  civilization  of  Europe  is  the  model. 
In  his  opinion  only  the  ignorant  and  half-educated  look 
upon  the  past  as  the  Golden,  and  the  present  as  the 
Iron  age;  while  he  himself  forgets  his  own  doctrines  on 
the  original  fall  of  man. 

It  is  a great  mistake  to  compare  the  Hindu  civili- 


INTRODUCTION. 


XIV 


zation  with  Western  civilization.  It  is  impossible  to 
compare  the  industrial  productions,  hand  wrought  of 
India,  with  those  of  Europe,  “turned  out”  as  it  is  aptly 
phrased,  by  machines.  Machinery  and  mechanical 
progress  cannot  be  applied  to  any  artistic  work,  except 
the  avowed  imitation  or  copying  of  great  art  works. 
It  is  true  that  the  Hindu  artist  has  his  own  traditions 
on  decorative  art,  which  is  a crystalized  tradition 
although  perfect  in  form;  it  is  true  that  the  spirit  of  fine 
art  which  is  latent  in  India,  requires  to  be  quickened 
into  creative  operations  in  these  times.  Still  the  Indian 
workman,  from  the  humblest  potter  to  the  most  cun- 
ning embroiderer  in  blue,  purple,  scarlet  and  gold, 
is  a true  artist.  But  has  the  Western  civilization  pre- 
served his  true  character?  Sir  George  Birdwood, 
who  lived  and  studied  in  India  for  a number  of 
years  the  native  industries  of  that  country,  says 
in  connection  with  the  Indian  exhibits  in  the  Paris 
Exposition  of  1878:  “Indian  collections  are  now  also, 
unfortunately,  becoming  at  every  succeeding  exposi- 
tion, more  and  more  over-crowded  with  mongrel 
articles,  the  result  of  the  influences  on  Indian  art,  of 
English  society,  missionary  schools,  schools  of  art,  and 
international  exhibitions,  and  above  all,  of  the  irresis- 
tible energy  of  the  mechanical  productiveness  of  Man- 
chester, Birmingham,  Paris  and  Vienna.” 

Terry  in  his  “Voyages  to  the  East  Indies,”  1655,  in 
describing  the  people  of  India  writes:  “The  natives 
there  show  very  much  ingenuity  in  their  curious  manu- 
factures, as  in  their  silk  stuffs,  which  they  most  artific- 
ially weave,  some  of  them  very  neatly  mingled  with 
silver  or  gold,  or  both;  as  also  in  making  quilts  of  their 
stained  cloth  or  of  fresh  colored  taffata  lined  with  their 
printadoes  (prints  or  chintz),  or  of  their  satin,  lined 
with  taffata,  betwixt  which  they  put  pure  cotton-wool. 


XX 


INTRODUCTION. 


and  work  them  together  with  silk.  ^ ^ ^ ^ They 

will  make  any  new  thing  by  pattern,  howsoever  diffi- 
cult it  may  seem  to  be;  it  is  therefore  no  marvel  if  the 
natives  there  make  boots,  clothes,  linen,  bands,  cuffs  of 
English  fashion,  which  are  all  very  different  from  their 
own  fashions  and  habits,  and  yet  make  them  all 
exceedingly  neat.” 

I am  not  a supporter  of  the  caste  system  as  it  ex- 
ists to-day  in  India,  but  I am  convinced,  with  Dr. 
Leitner,  formerly  the  Registar  of  the  Punjab  University 
in  India,  that  the  preservation  of  caste  in  its  original 
form  is  the  preservation  of  ancient  civilization  and  un- 
paralleled culture  of  India,  inclusive  of  its  arts  and  in- 
dustries, which  is  perfectly  compatible  with  every 
legitimate  demand  of  modern  requirements  or  aspira- 
tions. “The  recognition  of  the  principle  of  heredity  in 
abilities  and  defects,  so  tardily  recognized  by  our  own 
physiologists,  has  maintained  Indian  society,  Indian 
wisdom,  Indian  bravery,  and  Indian  arts,  and  can  alone 
preserve  Indian  loyalty  and  ensure  Indian  progress  on 
the  lines  of  its  own  genius.  It  is  only  imitatio7i  of  for- 
eign models  that  can  kill  what  thousands  of  years  and 
the  various  vicissitudes  of  conquest  have  spared.”  Sir 
George  Birdwood  therefore  says  to  the  European  pub- 
lic: “We  therefore  incur  a great  responsibility  when 
we  deliberately  undertake  to  improve  such  a people  in 
the  practice  of  their  own  arts,  and  hitherto  the  results 
of  our  attempts  to  do  so  have  been  anything  but  en- 
couraging. The  Kashmir  trade  in  shawls  has  been 
ruined  through  the  quickness  with  which  the  weavers 
have  adopted  the  ‘improved  shawl  patterns*  which  the 
French  agents  of  the  Paris  import  houses  have  set  be- 
fore them,  and  presently  we  shall  see  what  the  effect  of 
the  teaching  of  our  Schools  of  Art  has  been  on  Indian 
pottery,  the  noblest  pottery  in  the  world  until  we  began 


INTRODUCTION. 


XXI 


to  meddle  with  it.  * * * We  incur  a great  respon- 

sibility in  attempting  to  interfere  in  the  direct  art  edu- 
cation of  a people  who  already  possess  the  tradition 
of  a system  of  decoration  founded  on  perfect  princi- 
ples, which  they  have  learned  through  centuries  of 
practice  to  apply  with  unerring  truth.  * ^ * Of 

late  these  handicraftsmen,  for  the  sake  of  whose  works 
the  whole  world  has  been  ceaselessly  pouring  its  bullion 
for  three  thousand  years  into  India,  and  who,  for  all  the 
marvelous  tissues  and  broidered  work,  have  fouled  no 
streams,  nor  poisoned  any  air;  whose  skill  and  individ- 
uality the  training  of  countless  generations  has  devel- 
oped to  the  highest  perfection;  these  hereditary 
handicraftsmen  are  being  everywhere  gathered  from 
their  democratic  village  community  in  hundreds  and 
thousands  to  the  colossal  mills  of  Bombay  to  drudge  in 
gangs  at  manufacturing  piece-goods,  in  competition 
with  Manchester,  in  the  production  of  which  they  are 
no  more  intellectually  or  morally  concerned  than  the 
grinder  of  a barrel  organ  in  the  ‘tune  it  turns  out.’  ” 

The  arts  and  sciences  of  India  are  not  modern. 
Their  origin  is  hidden  in  pre-historic  times.  Religion 
and  philosophy  have  been  the  great  contributions  of 
India  to  the  world,  and  they  have  drawn  savants  and 
philosophers  to  her  in  times,  ancient  and  modern.  Is 
it  improbable  then,  that  Jesus,  too,  might  have  visited 
India?  But  if  he  did,  how,  especially  in  times  when 
there  were  no  conveniences  for  traveling? 

The  ancient  commerce  of  India  with  other  coun- 
tries had  brought  her  people  in  close  connection  with 
those  of  others,  who  went  to  India  either  by  sea  or  by 
the  caravan  route.  Many  people  are  skeptical  as  to 
there  having  been  any  intercourse,  in  those  times,  be- 
tween India  and  the  countries  around  the  Mediterranean, 
but  careful  investigations  of  scholars  have  conclusively 


Xxii 


INTRODUCTION. 


shown  that  India’s  gold  and  silver,  precious  stones, 
spices  and  silks  had  always  attracted  people  of  other 
Countries  to  her.  The  Hindu  and  Jain  Scriptures  bear 
^mple  testimony  to  this — which  to  the  average  Chris- 
tian reader  are  but  myths,  while  the  Bible  is  to  him  a 
Veritable  record  of  truth.  We  will  proceed  from  his 
standpoint,  and  prove  conclusively  that  the  most  val- 
uable and  complete  notices  of  the  ancient  trade  of 
India  are  in  the  Bible. 

Moses  about  1500  B.  C.,  in  Genesis  11.  11-12,  de- 
scribing the  first  head,  Pison,  of  the  river  of  Eden  says: 
‘‘That  is  it  which  compasseth  the  whole  land  of  Havi- 
lah,  where  there  is  gold.  * ^ ^ There  is  b’dellium 

and  the  onyx  stone.”  B’dellium  is  the  gum  resin  of 
two  varieties,  both  natives  of  Sindh  in  India;  cinnamon 
"mentioned  in  Proverbs  vii.  17,  and  Song  of  Solomon  iv. 
14,  is  the  product  of  Ceylon.  In  Numbers  xxiv.  6, 
Balaam  compares  the  camp  of  Israel  to  “A  garden  by 
the  riverside  as  the  trees  of  lign-aloes  which  the  Lord 
hath  planted,  and  as  cedar  trees  beside  the  waters.” 
This  lign-aloes  is  the  most  precious  of  all  perfumes 
known  in  Sanskrit,  Agaru,  and  in  the  Hebrew  Ahalim 
and  Ahaloth.  In  the  Song  of  Solomon  (Circa  B.  C. 
1000)  IV.  13-14,  mention  is  made,  besides  of  myrrh, 
aloes,  cinnamon,  frankincense  and  calamus,  of  camphire 
saffron  and  spikenard,  in  this  and  also  in  i.  14,  cam- 
phire, the  Hebrew  copher,  is  the  Egyptian  hennah,  a 
native  of  East  India.  The  saffron,  in  the  Hebrew  kar- 
kan,  the  Sanskrit  kunkiimay  is  a native  of  Kashmir, 
and  spikenard  is  exclusively  a native  of  Nepal  and 
Bhotan  at  great  elevations.  The  costus  of  Psalms  xiv. 
8,  translated  by  Cassia  in  the  English  Bible,  is  also  ex- 
clusively a native  of  Kashmir.  These  three  famous 
products  of  the  Himalayas,  with  b’dellium,  the  vine, 
pomegranate,  lign-aloes,  salep,  hemp  and  musk,  and 


INTRODUCTION. 


XXlll 


the  Balas  ruby,  lapis-lazuli  and  turquoise  have  been 
known  from  the  earliest  associations  with  the  Aryans 
of  India,  whence  saffron  and  hemp  have  followed  their 
migrations  everywhere  throughout  the  temperate  zone 
of  the  globe.  The  sandalwood  used  by  Solomon  for 
flooring  and  pillars  is  a native  of  India  and  the  Eastern 
Archipelago  only.  The  word  “cotton”  is  not  used  in 
the  English  translation  of  the  Bible;  but  in  the  passage 
of  Esther  (Circa  B.  C.  450)  i.  6,  “There  were  white, 
^r^^/^and  blue  hangings,”  the  Hebrew  word  translated 
green  is  Karpos,  identical  with  Sanskrit  Karpasa  and 
Hindi  Kapas^  cotton,  an  aboriginal  Indian  production. 
The  passage  should  be  read:  “There  were  white  and 
blue  (striped)  cotton  hangings,”  like  the  sattrangis 
made  all  over  Hindustan  at  the  present  day. 

Opium,  hemp,  tin  and  many  other  things  were 
known  by  Homer  in  their  Sanskrit  names.  The  pea- 
cocks mentioned  I.  Kings  x.  22,  and  H.  Chronicles  ix. 
21,  along  with  ivory  and  apes  are  true  Indian  peacocks 
as  is  proven  by  the  Hebrew  word  used  for  them, 
tukkiyim  being  identical  with  the  Sanskrit  word  tokki 
for  peacocks.  The  Hebrew  word  koph  here  used  for 
apes  is  also  the  Sanskrit  kapi.  Iron  is  frequently  men- 
tioned in  the  Bible  under  the  Hebrew  name  of  paldah^ 
which  is  the  Arabic  fulad  and  indicates  Indian  iron. 
Homer  mentions  tin  by  its  Sanskrit  name  kasttra,  and 
the  Phoenicians,  who  first  learned  the  name  from  the 
trade  through  the  Arabs  with  India,  afterwards  gave  the 
name  of  Cassiterides  to  the  Scilly  Islands  and  Cornwall, 
where  it  still  survives  in  Cassiter  street,  Bodmin. 
Homer’s  triple-gemmed  ear-rings,  Illiad  xiv.  183,  and 
Odessy,  xviii.  298,  are  the  emerald  ear-rings  of  India. 

The  pomegranate,  the  vine  and  the  Soma  are  indi- 
rectly connected  with  the  development  of  the  Indian 
trade.  The  pomegranate  is  a native  of  Northwestern 


xxiv 


INTRODUCTION. 


India,  whence  it  was  carried  by  the  earliest  Aryan  emi- 
grations into  Media  and  Syria,  and  afterwards  by  the 
Phoenicians  and  the  Carthaginians,  from  whence  its 
Latin  name  Punica  Granatum  is  derived.  It  is  con- 
stantly represented  on  the  sculptures  of  Assyria  and 
Egypt  with  grapes  and  peaches,  and  is  frequently  men- 
tioned in  the  Bible  (Ex.  xxviii.  33-34;  xxxix.  24-26; 
Numb.  XIII.  23;  XX.  5;  Deut.  viii.  8;  I Kings  vii.  18; 
Song  of  Sol.  IV.  3,  13.)  The  Soma,  the  renowned  drink 
of  the  Vedas,  and  horn  of  the  Zend  Avesta,  is  indigenous 
to  the  Punjab  and  the  Bolan  pass,  Khandesh,  and  the 
Ghats  of  Western  India  and  Caromandel  Coast;  and 
from  the  sacred  rites  and  rejoicings  which  accompanied 
the  drinking  of  its  fermented  sap  in  Vedic  times,  and 
which  are  still  celebrated  among  the  Brahmins  of  India, 
it  evidently  was  the  first  intoxicant  discovered  by  the 
Brahmins.  The  division  of  the  Persians  from  the  Brah- 
mins was  the  result  of  a dispute  over  the  use  of  Soma 
as  a religious  service,  particularly  in  the  ceremony 
which  symbolized  the  intoxication  of  the  gods,  which 
the  Persians  resolutely  resisted.  In  the  Caucasus 
mountains  and  Armenia  the  use  of  soma  gradually 
passed  into  the  use  of  wine  (Gen.  ix.  21),  a fact  which 
suggests  an  explanation  of  the  true  Brahmin  origin  of 
Bacchus  and  of  the  Dionysiac  rites  of  ancient  Greece. 
In  the  valley  of  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates,  the  sap  of 
the  date  palm  particularly  was  substituted  for  that  of 
Soma  or  horn  as  an  intoxicating  drink.  There  is  a verse 
in  the  Rig  Veda  ix.  celebrating  the  virtues  of  Soma,  a 
finer  Bacchic  burst  cannot  be  met  with  among  the 
most  enthusiastic  of  poets  who  have  sung  of  wine:  “ O, 
Soma!  there  is  nothing  so  bright  as  thou.  When  poured 
out,  thou  welcomest  all  gods,  to  bestow  on  them  im- 
mortality. * * The  praiseworthy  Soma  has  from 

ancient  times  been  the  drink  of  the  gods;  he  was  milked 


INTRODUCTION. 


XXV 


from  the  hidden  recesses  of  the  sky;  he  was  created  for 
Indra  and  was  extolled.  * * In  that  realm  where 

there  is  perennial  light,  and  where  the  heaven  is  placed, 
O Soma,  send  me  to  that  deathless  and  immortal  realm! 
Flow  thou  for  Indra.”* 

These  facts  prove  the  pre-historic  antiquity  of  the 
trade  of  India  with  the  West;  it  originated  through 
Persia,  Media,  Mesopotamia,  Syria  and  Asia  Minor  with 
the  exodus  of  the  Aryan  race  from  Central  Asia,  as  the 
philologists  infer,  from  the  names  of  various  spices, 
drugs,  vegetables,  stones,  etc.  We  also  know  that  the 
ship  captains  of  Solomon  and  Hiram  not  only  brought 
Indian  apes,  peacocks  and  sandal-wood  to  Palestine, 
they  also  brought  their  Sanskrit  names.  This  was  about 
1000  B.  C.  The  Assyrian  monuments  show  that  the 
rhinoceros  and  elephant  were  among  the  tribute  offered 
to  Shalmaneser  II.  (859-823  B.  C.)  The  Greek  histo- 
rian Hekataios,  of  Miletos,  (549-486  B.  C.)  speaks 
clearly  of  India.  Herodotos,  too,  (450  B.  C.)  had  some 
knowledge  of  India;  and  since  Alexander’s  invasion 
(327  B.  C.)  the  knowledge  of  the  Western  nations  about 
India  has  become  a matter  of  history.  After  Alexan- 
der’s death  his  empire  was  partitioned,  and  Bactria  and 
India  fell  eventually  to  Seleukos  Nikator,  the  founder 
of  the  Assyrian  monarchy,  (323  B.  C.)  While  Seleukos 
reigned  in  Syria  from  312  to  280  B.  C.,  Chandra  Gupta 
reigned  in  the  Gangetic  valley  from  316  to  292  B.  C. 
In  312  B.  C.,  Seleukos  having  recovered  Babylon,  pro- 
ceeded to  re-establish  his  authority  in  Bactria  and  the 
Punjab.  After  a war  with  Chandra  Gupta,  Seleukos 
ceded  the  Greek  settlements  to  the  Indian  king  and  left 
Megasthenes  as  an  ambassador  at  the  Gangetic  court. 
He  also  gave  his  daughter  to  Chandra  Gupta  in  mar- 
riage. 


* Sir  George  Birdwood’s  Handbook. 


XXVI 


INTRODUCTION. 


We  see,  therefore,  that,  long  before  Jesus  was  born, 
India  had  become  a familiar  topic  with  the  Western 
people.  Alexander  had  brought  Greece  and  India  face 
to  face;  his  officers  wrote  descriptions  of  different 
parts  of  his  route,  which  have  since  perished,  but  they 
furnished  materials  to  Strabo,  Pliny  and  Arrian.  Arrian 
gives  a minute  account  of  the  sea-born  trade  of  India. 
Megasthenes,  on  the  other  hand,  has  left  a life-like  pic- 
ture of  the  Indian  people. 

The  Caravan  Routes. — The  manuscript  discov- 
ered by  M.  Notovitch  gives  us  a clear  account  of  Jesus 
from  12  to  26.  It  says  that  he  went  to  India  with  a 
caravan  of  merchants.  Are  there  any  grounds  to  sup- 
pose that  he  did  so? 

We  know  as  a fact  that  the  earliest  trade  between 
the  East  and  the  West  was  carried  on  by  caravans,  and 
long  after  the  sea-routes  by  the  Red  Sea  and  the  Per- 
sian Gulf  began  to  be  used,  the  land  trade  continued  to 
be  more  important  than  the  sea-borne.  The  earliest  of 
these  caravan  routes  were  those  between  Egypt,  Ara- 
bia and  Assyria,  and  these  are  referred  to  in  the 
Bible.  In  Gen.  ii.  11-12,  we  are  told  of  the  land 
of  Havilah,  that  there  was  gold  there,  and  b’del- 
lium  and  the  onyx  stone.  Havilah  is  in  Arabia  Felix, 
to  the  north  of  Ophir,  and  the  passage  simply  indicates 
the  route  through  which  theb’dellium  or  musk  of  India 
was  received  in  Egypt  in  the  time  of  Moses.  The  pass- 
age, Psalms  XIV.  8:  “All  thy  garments  smell  of  myrrh, 
aloes  and  cassia,  out  of  the  ivory  palaces,  whereby  they 
have  made  thee  glad,”  is  generally  supposed  to  allude 
to  the  tablets  and  alabasters  or  scent-bottles  in  which 
perfumes  were  kept  in  ancient  times.  But  it  may  also 
be  translated  “ Out  of  the  ivory  palaces  of  the  Minae- 
ans,”  a people  of  Arabia  Felix,  who,  like  their  neigh- 
bors, the  Sabaeans  and  the  Gerrhaeans  on  the  Persian 


INTRODUCTION. 


XXVll 


Gulf,  were  the  chief  carriers  of  the  Indian  trade,  and  re- 
nowned in  all  ancient  times  for  their  fabulous  opulence 
and  luxury.  In  Gen.  xxxvii.  25,  we  read  that  the  sons 
of  Israel  sat  down  in  Dothan  to  eat  bread,  and  they 
lifted  up  their  eyes  and  looked,  and  behold  a company 
of  Ishmaelites  came  from  Gilead  with  their  camels, 
bearing  spicery  and  balm  and  myrrh,  going  to  carry  it 
down  to  Egypt,”  and  that  as  the  “ Midianites,  mer- 
chantmen” passed  by,  “ his  brethren  sold  Joseph  to  the 
Ishmaelites,”  who  were  probably  traveling  by  the  im- 
memmorial  caravan  route,  through  Canaan  and  Edom 
and  Midian,  from  Chaldoea  into  Egypt,  the  route  by 
which  Israel  afterwards  sent  his  sons  into  Egypt  with 
balm  and  honey,  spices  and  myrrh,  nuts  and  almonds, 
for  a present  to  the  man,”  their  brother,  who  was  now 
governor  over  the  land.  Many  beautiful  and  sublime 
scripture  images  are  taken  from  this  trade,  as  in  Isaiah 
Lxiii.  I,  “Who  is  this  that  cometh  out  of  the  wilderness 
like  pillars  of  smoke,  perfumed  with  myrrh  and  frank- 
incense, with  all  powders  of  the  merchant?  * * They 
hold  all  swords,  being  expert  in  war,  every  man  hath 
his  sword  upon  his  thigh,  because  of  fear  in  the  night;” 
passages  giving  also  a vivid  picture  of  a Mecca  caravan 
of  the  present  day,  and  of  the  dangers  besetting  it,  with 
its  rich  merchandise  of  China,  India  and  Persia. 

As  we  learn  from  the  account  of  the  wars,  both  of 
Moses  and  of  Gideon  with  the  Midianites,  they  were  a 
very  wealthy  Arab  people,  living  partly  by  predatory 
incursions  into  the  neighboring  territories,  and  partly  by 
carrying  on  a caravan  trade,  across  the  intervening  des- 
erts, with  the  powerful  states  of  Egypt  and  Chaldaea. 

There  was  an  immemorial  commerce  between  India 
and  the  nations  of  the  Mediterranean  and  there  were 
several  routes  followed  at  different  times.  The  route 
by  Kirman  Gerrha  and  Petra  was  probably  the  oldest  of 


XXVlll 


INTRODUCTION. 


all.  In  those  early  times  the  produce  of  India  came  to 
Kirman  and  Ormuz  and  was  thence  carried  across  the 
Persian  Gulf  to  Gerrha,  the  emporium  of  the  pearl  fish- 
ery still  carried  on  among  Bahrein  Islands,  the  ancient 
Tylos  and  Aradus,  which  with  Muscat,  were  the  original 
seats  of  those  seafaring  Arabs,  who  afterwards  estab- 
lished themselves  in  Phoenicia  and  carried  their  settle- 
ments from  port  to  port  along  the  eastern  and  southern 
shores  of  the  Mediterranean  from  Tyre  to  Sidon  to  the 
coast  of  Mauritania. 

In  India,  Pattala — the  modern  Thattha  on  the  river 
Indus  in  Sindh,  was  in  early  times  a place  of  great  impor- 
tance— the  point  where  all  the  caravan  routes  in  India, 
and  leading  into  India,  converged.  It  was  near  to  this 
spot  that  Alexander  crossed  the  Indus,  and  here  also 
the  different  lines  from  China,  through  the  Kashmir 
valley,  and  from  Sarmatia  (now  Russia),  Media  and 
Mesopotamia,  through  the  Bamian  and  Khaiber  passes 
first  entered  India.  Sindh  was  therefore  the  place 
where  a caravan  of  foreign  merchants  would  first  halt 
in  India.*  This  confirms  the  statement  in  the  Buddhist 
manuscript  of  the  life  of  Jesus  that  He  first  went  to 
Sindh. 

Besides  the  caravan  route,  there  were  two  other 
routes — the  Persian  Gulf  route  and  the  Red  Sea  route. 
The  Bible  is  full  of  references  to  the  trade  by  these 
routes  also.  Jerusalem  was  in  early  times  an  important 
place  of  commerce  and  the  rivalary  between  Jerusalem 
and  Edom  finds  a striking  expression  in  the  Bible 
throughout  the  whole  period  of  prophetic  development 
among  the  Hebrews,  as  in  Isaiah  xxxiv.  5-6;  Jeremiah 
XLix.  13-22;  Ezekiel  xxv.  13-14,  and  xxxv.  15;  and 
Amos  I.  10-12 

*I  am  indebted  for  much  of  this  information  to  Sir  George 
Birdwood. 


INTRODUCTION. 


XXIX 


The  crowning  proof  of  the  Indian  trade  with  the 
countries  on  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  and  the 
Red  Seas  before  the  birth  of  Jesus,  is  offered 
from  the  fact  that  during  the  reign  of  Ptolemy  Euer 
getes  (B.  C.  145-116),  a Hindu  was  found  on  the  Egyp- 
tian coast  of  the  Red  Sea  in  a boat  by  himself,  speak- 
ing a language  unknown  to  the  people  of  that  country, 
and  whose  ship  had  been  wrecked  there.  The  promi- 
nent headland  on  the  south-east  coast  of  Arabia  is  nam- 
ed Ras-el-Kabir-Hindi — “The  Cape  of  the  Hindu’s 
Grave” — from  the  fact  that  navigation  was  considered 
dangerous  in  those  times  by  the  Arabs.  The  castaway 
Hindu,  however,  on  being  taken  to  Alexandria,  offered 
to  pilot  an  Egyptian  ship  back  to  India  by  the  voyage 
he  had  himself  made,  and  P^uxodus  was  sent  on  this 
voyage  of  discovery,  and  reached  India  and  returned 
safely  to  Egypt  with  a cargo  of  spices  and  precious 
stones.  The  greatest  skeptic  must  admit  that  the  land 
and  sea-borne  trade  of  India  had  given  her  a world- 
wide fame  not  only  for  her  gold,  spices  and  silk,  but 
for  her  religions  and  philosophies  also. 

Buddha,  the  founder  of  Buddhism,  died  in  543  B. 
C.,  and  Mahavira,  the  last  Arhat  of  the  Jains,  in  526,  that 
is,  17  years  later.  Jainism  has  been  known  to  have  exist- 
ed even  before  the  time  of  Buddha  and  therefore  is  the 
oldest  missionary  religion  in  the  history  of  the  world. 
Ashoka  the  Great,  the  Emperor  of  Northern  India,  was 
converted  to  the  faith  of  Buddha  in  257  B.  C.,  and  his 
grandson,  Samprati,  later  on  was  converted  to  Jainism. 
The  grandfather  and  the  grandson  have  done  for  their 
respective  religions  what  Constantine  has  done  for 
Christianity.  Ashoka  has  left  a number  of  edicts  in 
the  form  of  inscriptions  cut  on  rocks,  caves  and  pillars 
and  in  the  language  and  alphabet  of  the  time,  and  scat- 
tered all  over  India.  The  famous  French  scholar  Sen- 


XXX 


INTRODUCTIOl.. 


art  has  recently  published  these  inscriptions  in  his 
learned  work  “ Les  Inscriptions  de  Piyadasi/’  From 
the  thirteenth  inscription,  which  mentions  the  names  of 
Antiochus  of  Syria,  Ptolemy  of  Egypt,  Antigonus  of 
Macedon,  Magas  of  Cyrene,  and  Alexander  of  Epiros, 
it  appears  that  these  kings  were  contemporaries  of 
Ashoka  and  that  they  made  treaties  with  him,  and  with 
their  permission  he  sent  Buddhist  missionaries  to  preach 
his  religion  in  those  countries.  Ashoka’s  grandson 
sent  missionaries  to  many  foreign  countries  to  preach 
Jainism  and  often  the  monks  of  one  religion  were  mis- 
taken for  those  of  the  other,  by  reason  of  a close  simi- 
larity in  dress  and  ceremonial  observances.  These 
religions  were  therefore  well-known  in  Egypt,  Syria, 
Greece  and  other  places,  long  before  Jesus  was  born. 
“ Buddhist  missionaries,”  says  a Christian  writer, 
“preached  in  Syria  two  centuries  before  the  teaching 
of  Christ  (which  has  so  many  moral  points  in  common) 
was  heard  in  northern  Palestine.  So  true  is  it  that 
every  great  historical  change  has  had  its  forerunner.” 

It  is  beyond  doubt,  therefore,  that  India  was  com- 
mercially connected  with  the  countries  situated  on  the 
shores  of  the  Mediterranean  many  centuries  before  the 
birth  of  Jesus;  that  India’s  wealth  and  commodities  had 
attracted  different  people  to  her  in  very  ancient  times; 
that  her  religions  were  openly  preached  and  known  in 
the  very  land  which  afterwards  became  the  birth-place  of 
Jesus;  that  Alexander’s  conquest  had  made  foreign  na- 
tions more  familiar  with  India  and  her  people  and  her 
glory  had  spread  throughout  the  world  then  known.  Is  it 
then  impossible  that  Jesus,  having  heard  of  the  richness 
of  the  philosophies  and  sciences  of  India,  should  have 
gone  there  with  a desire  to  study  them?  Add  to  this 
the  various  passages,  both  in  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments, which  bear  a close  resemblance  with  the  Bud- 


INTRODUCTION. 


xxx5 


dhistic,  Hindu  and  Jain  thoughts,  (nay,  some  of  the 
very  customs  and  practices  of  the  Jews  of  those  early 
times  can  be  fully  explained  only  in  the  light  of  Indian 
wisdom)  and  the  evidence  is  overwhelming  in  favor  of 
the  theory  that  Jesus  must  have  been  attracted  to  and 
lived  in  India  during  the  time  about  which  the  Evange- 
lists are  silent. 

In  connection  with  the  original  work,  in  French,  of 
M.  Notovitch,  I have  very  little  to  say.  In  the  first  part 
of  his  book,  ‘^Journey  to  Thibet,”  he  gives  a very 
minute  description  of  the  hills,  gorges,  rivers,  etc.,  over 
which  he  traveled,  which  is  tedious  to  the  average 
reader.  I have,  therefore,  abridged  that  part,  and  have 
described  his  journey  in  my  own  words,  omitting 
nothing  that  is  at  all  interesting;  on  the  contrary,  I 
have  added  many  things  which  M.  Notovitch  could 
not,  he  being  a foreigner  in  the  East,  and  therefore 
not  well  acquainted  with  its  people  and  their  customs. 
I have  illustrated  the  work  with  many  pictures — which 
I hope  will  make  the  book  acceptable  to  alj  •'eaders. 

The  summary  which  appears  at  the  end  of  the 
book,  I have  given  verbatim,  but  have  added  several 
footnotes 

M.  Notovitch,  being  a foreigner  in  India,  is  not  ex- 
pected to  be  an  authority  on  the  religions,  manners  or 
customs  of  her  people.  Like  other  foreigners  he  has 
formed  incorrect  notions,  especially  on  such  subjects 
for  which  he  had  to  refer  to  works  written  by  Euro- 
peans. I have,  therefore,  pointed  out  these  facts  in  the 
footnotes. 

Chicago,  June,  i8g4. 


ViRCHAND  R.  Gandhi. 


Solomon’s  Throne. — See  page  40. 


JOURNEY  TO  THIBET. 

During  the  sojourn  of  M.  Notovitch  in  India,  he 
enjoyed  frequent  opportunities  of  mingling  and  holding 
converse  with  Buddhists,  and  the  many  interesting  ac- 
counts which  they  gave  him  of  Thibet  so  enthused  him 
that  he  decided  to  take  a journey  to  that  still  unex- 
plored country. 

With  this  object  he  chose  a route  leading  through 
the  enchanting  valley  of  Kashmir — a country  which  he 
had  often  desired  to  visit. 

Leaving  Lahore  October  14th,  1887.  he  arrived  at 
Rawal  Pindi  the  following  day,  where  he  made  all  prep- 
arations for  a long  and  tedious  journey  over  a region 
where  railroads  are  unknown,  and  where  the  only  means 
of  conveyance  are  horses — a journey  more  or  less  fraught 
with  dangers  from  incomplete  roads  through  rugged 
mountains,  and  the  possible  prey  of  wild  animals  with 
which  the  forests  abound. 

Often  the  traveler  may  journey  many  weary  miles 
without  finding  an  inn  where  he  may  rest,  except  the 
isolated  bungalows,  which  have  been  erected  at  inter- 
vals along  the  road  by  the  English ; these  are  small  houses 
with  one  floor,  not  particularly  attractive  for  their  com- 
forts, but  to  the  traveler,  exhausted  from  climbing  over 
the  rugged  and  dangerous  mountain-roads,  these  bunga- 
lows where  he  may  find  shelter  and  rest  appear  even  as 
a luxury. 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  relate  in  detail  all  the  in- 
cidents of  this  journey  of  M.  Notovitch,  which  are 
sometimes  tedious;  nor  shall  I dwell  on  the  glowing 


54  the  0*>'  JL-JUS  ChRT:*r. 

descriptions  of  the  grand  and  magnificent  moimtain 
gorges,  and  the  picturesque  landscapes  made  glorious 
by  the  songs  of  myriads  of  gay-plumaged  birds  which 
one  beholds  with  admiring  eyes  at  every  step  in  the 
forests;  nor  shall  I attempt  a description  of  the  gor- 
geous sunsets  which,  renowned  travelers  concede,  can- 
not be  seen  so  glorious  elsewhere  in  all  the  world  as  in 
the  Himalayas;  not  even  Italy  with  all  her  immortal 
fame  with  which  great  artists  have  justly  adorned  her, 
can  boast  of  such  inexpressible  grandeur  as  is  displayed 
at  sunset  in  these  mountains.  The  perfectly  pure  at- 
mosphere, the  deep  blue  sky,  against  which  the  tower- 
ing snow-capped  peaks  resemble  huge  masses  of 
glittering  silver,  gold  and  diamonds,  fantastically 
wrought,  are  scenes  which  intoxicate  the  senses  of  man 
with  their  ravishing  .beauty,  and  he  is  utterly  incapable 
of  describing  with  tongue  or  pen  the  magnificence  of 
their  splendors  or  the  holy  emotions  with  which  the 
soul  is  inspired. 

I will  confine  myself  to  a faithful  account  of  M. 
Notovitch’s  journey,  giving  all  the  points  of  interest 
touched  upon  by  him. 

Leaving  the  valley  of  the  Punjab,  M.  Notovitch, 
with  his  retinue,  climbed  the  steep  winding  road,  pene- 
trating the  counterforts  of  the  Himalayas,  descending 
at  sunset  to  the  little  town  of  Marri,  which  stands  at  an 
altitude  of  7,457  feet,  and  is  quite  a summer  resort  for 
English  officials  and  their  families.  Thence  they  de- 
scended after  nightfall,  resting  a few  hours  at  a bunga- 
low, continuing  the  journey  at  dawn,  reaching  the 
hamlet  Tong  at  noon,  at  which  place  M.  Notovitch 
hired  a Hindu  cabriolet,  which  conveyance  he  failed  to 
enjoy  on  account  of  the  cramped  position  in  which  he 
was  obliged  to  sit  ‘‘  like  a Turk.”  He  managed,  how- 
ever, to  reach  Hori  in  this  kind  of  carriage,  at  which 


M Notovitch  on  the  Marc«j. 


$6  THE  UNKNOWN  SIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

place  he  changed  his  mode  ot  travel  and  secured  sad- 
dle-horses. 

I will  here  relate  an  experience  which  M.  Notovitch 
had  at  the  little  hamlet  where  he  halted  to  rest  and 
lunch,  and  where  provisions  and  all  sorts  of  merchan- 
dise were  sold.  He  approached  a fSndu,  who  was 
squatted  before  a kettle  of  boiling  milk  and  after  having 
examined  it  somewhat  cautiously  to  be  sure  that  it  was 
milk,  he  wanted  to  purchase  a glassful  of  it,  whereupon 
the  merchant  offered  him  the  kettle  and  its  contents;  at 
this  our  traveler  remonstrated,  saying  that  he  only  de- 
sired one  glass  of  it;  it  was  there  that  he  learned  his 
first  lesson  in  orthodox  Brahminism.  “ According  to 
our  laws,”  said  the  Hindu,  “ if  a stranger  or  one  not  be- 
longing to  our  caste,  touches,  gazes  or  points  his  finger 
at  our  food,  by  such  act  it  is  polluted  and  we  cannot 
eat  it.  We  must,  not  only  throw  it  away,  but  must 
thoroughly  cleanse  and  purify  the  utensil.”  This  will, 
of  course,  seem  perfectly  absurd  to  the  people  of  the 
West,  but  there  are,  I may  add,  deep  metaphysical  laws 
underlying  many  of  these  seemingly  useless  ceremo- 
nies, which  would  not  be  understood  by  the  reader  with- 
out a thorough  study.  I will  not,  therefore,  attempt  to 
explain  them  here. 

M.  Notovitch  resumed  his  journey  and  reached 
next  evening  the  celebrated  valley  of  Kashmir.  This 
“ happy  valley”  is  situated  between  the  ranges  of  the 
Himalaya  mountains  and  is  about  eighty-five  miles  long 
and  twenty-five  wide,  through  the  length  of  which  wind 
in  a serpentine  course  the  sparkling  waters  of  the  river 
Jhelum. 

This  valley  is,  no  doubt,  the  most  beautiful  in  the 
world,  with  its  placid  lakes,  its  sparkling  rivers  (on 
which  are  hundreds  of  floating  houses,  in  which  live  as 
many  families  the  year  round),  its  fairy-like  gardens 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  37 

floating  on  the  lakes,  its  hills  and  islands  covered  with 
antique  buildings,  and  its  happy,  easy-going,  pictur- 
esque inhabitants,  both  male  and  female,  robed  in  long 
white  gowns  with  full  loose  flowing  sleeves — the  men 
with  snow-white  turbans,  the  women  with  little  caps  or 
bonnets,  all  of  whom  spend  their  time  in  their  numer- 
ous devotional  exercises  or  quietly  working  on  their 
celebrated  shawls  or  working  curious  designs  in  gold  and 
silver,  for  which  there  is  but  a dull  market  these  days  of 
rapid  machine  imitations;  and  above  all,  the  balmy  at- 
mosphere of  this  ‘garden  of  the  gods’  conspires  to  make 
one  forget  all  his  troubles,  real  or  imaginary. 

There  are  legends  extant  regarding  this  valley,  one 
of  which  claims' that  in  very  ancient  times  this  valley 
was  a gre  at  iake>  and  t'.ial;  an  invading  ki.ig  ordered  his 
men  t(»  Mr ' e a \ issage  between  two  rocks  in  a gnrgc, 
t ereby  dn  t ir  tne  kike  of  !ts  Avaters  ri;.  \li  g tb/" 
:i Cjaccil  c:ci  i . , by  vTnch  fi  j gamed  ny  over  the 

inhabitants.  Another  legend  is,  that  the  waters  them- 
selves forced  a passage  between  the  rocks  of  a gorge, 
leaving  nothing  of  the  great  lake  except  a few  lagoons 
and  the  river  Jhelum. 

M.  Notovitch  reached  Shrinagar,  the  capital  of 
Kashmir,  on  the  evening  of  October  19th,  where  he  re- 
mained six  days,  spending  the  time  in  making  long 
excursions  into  the  surrounding  country,  examining  old 
ruins  and  studying  the  peculiar  customs  of  the  people. 

The  history  of  Kashmir  is  full  of  interesting  inci- 
dents. I will  give  only  a short  sketch. 

A Mahomedan  writer,  Noor-ul-deen,  who  begins 
the  history  of  Kashmir  with  the  Creation,  afifirms  that 
the  valley  was  visited  by  Adam  after  the  fall;  that  the 
descendants  of  Seth  reigned  over  the  country  for  i,iio 
years;  and  that  after  the  deluge  it  became  peopled  by  a 
tribe  from  Turkistan.  The  Hindu  historians  add  that 


jg  THE  LNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

ifter  the  line  of  Seth  became  extinct,  the  Hindus  con- 
quered the  country  and  ruled  it  until  the  period  of  the 
deluge,  and  that  the  Kashmirians  were  afterwards  taught 
the  worship  of  one  God  by  Moses. ^ 

It  appears  from  chronicles  actually  existing  that 
Kashmir  has  been  a regular  kindgdom  for  a period  far 
beyond  the  limits  of  history  in  general.  From  the  year 
2,666  B.  C.  to  1,024  A.  C.  it  had  been  governed  by 
princes  of  Hindu  and  Tartar  dynasties,  and  their  names 
have  been  duly  handed  down  to  posterity.  In  the  reign 
of  Ashoka,  about  the  third  century  before  Christ,  Bud- 
dhism was  introduced,  and  after  remaining  there  for 
some  time,  under  Tartar  princes,  the  religion  of  the 
country  was  again  succeeded  by  Hinduism.  In  the 
middle  of  the  fourteenth  century  the  Mahomedans  ap- 
peared on  the  scene  and  annexed  for  a time  Thibet  to 
the  kingdom  of  Kashmir.  Sikander,  one  of  the  Ma- 
homedon  monarchs,  destroyed  the  Hindu  temples  and 
images  by  fire  and  forced  the  people,  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet,  to  adopt  the  Mahomedan  faith.  At  the  end 
of  the  sixteenth  century  Akbar  conquered  this  pro- 
vince. He  took  a fatherly  interest  in  the  people,  but  the 
loyalty  of  his  children  was  but  short-lived,  as  certain 
persons  raised  an  insurrection.  In  1752,  the  country 
passed  from  the  possession  of  the  Mogul  throne  and 
fell  under  the  rule  of  the  Duranis,  and  for  many  years 
was  convulsed  by  a series  of  wars  and  rebellions  and 
subject  to  numerous  governors.  In  1813,  Ranjit  Sing, 
the  Lfon  of  the  Punjab,  became  one  of  the  recognized 
princes  of  India,  and  subdued  the  province  of  Kashmir. 
The  Sikhs  ruled  for  a time  and  after  the  English  inva- 
sion of  the  Punjab,  it  came  under  the  British  rule.  The 
Pmglish,  however,  in  consideration  of  $3,750,000,  handed 
over  the  unfortunate  Kashmirians  to  the  tender  mercies 
* “ The  Diary  of  a Pedestrian,” 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  39 

of  Giilab  Sing,  an  attendant  and  counsellor  of  Ranjit 
Sing,  “ the  most  thorough  ruffian  that  ever  was  created 
— a villain  from  a kingdom  down  to  a half-penny,”  and 
the  “ Paradise  of  the  Indies”  was  relinquished  by  Eng- 
land and  forever,  as  was  then  supposed.  But  only  a 
few  years  ago  the  present  Maharaja  was  deprived  of  his 
powers  by  the  British  Government,  and  the  country  is 
now  under  British  protection. 

The  “ happy  valley”  of  Kashmir  does  not  possess 
the  glory  and  prosperity  that  it  did  under  the  Mogul 
emperors,  whose  court  enjoyed  here  the  sweetness  of 
pleasure  in  the  midst  of  the  pavilions,  still  standing  on 
the  islands  of  the^lake.  This  was  a great  resort  for  the 
princes  of  Hindustan,  who  formerly  came  to  spend  the 
summer  months,  and  to  enjoy  the  magnificent  and  un- 
rivaled festivals  given  by  the  Moguls.  But  time  has 
wrought  sad  changes  for  this  valley  and  its  former 
glory.  I will  add,  however,  that  notwithstanding  these 
changes,  the  Kashmirians  have  wonderfully  preserved 
their  artistic  skill  and  mechanical  talent.  Kashmir 
shawls  have  attained  a world-wide  reputation.  At  the 
Paris  Exposition  of  1878  was  exhibited,  with  other  won- 
derful Indian  products,  a shawl  worked  with  a map  of 
the  city  of  Shrinagar,  showing  its  streets  and  houses,  its 
gardens  and  temples,  with  people  interspersed  here  and 
there,  and  boats  on  the  calm  blue  waters  of  the  river, 
giving  a clear  life-like  picture  as  in  a photograph.  An- 
other shawl  was  one  mass  of  the  most  delicate  embroi- 
dery, representing  the  conventional  Persian  and 
Kashmir  wilderness  of  flowers,  with  birds  of  the  lovliest 
plumage  singing  among  the  bloom,  and  wonderful  ani- 
mals, and  wondering  men.* 

In  fact,  the  embroidery  on  wool  of  Kashmir,  both 
loom  and  hand-wrought,  is  of  historical  and  universal 


* Reports  of  the  Paris  Exposition, 


40  THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

fame.  Elaborately  chased  goblets,  rosewater  sprink- 
lers, in  ruddy  gold  and  parcel-gilt,  testify  to  the  Kash- 
mir goldsmith’s  skill.  The  finest  gemmed  and 
enamelled  jewelry  in  India  is  that  of  Kashmir.  The 
enumeration  in  Isaiah  iii.  17-24  of  the  articles  of  the 
mundus  muliebris  of  the  daughters  of  Zion  reads  like  an 
inventory  of  the  exceedingly  classical  looking  jewelry 
of  Kashmir.  The  lacquered  papier  mache  of  Kashmir  is 
the  choicest  in  India. 

Constant  invasions  and  plunders  have  reduced  the 
Kashmirians  to  poverty.  They  still  retain  much  of 
their  proud  mien — the  men  are  strongly  built,  the 
women  the  most  beautiful  in  the  world  with  their  clear 
white  complexions  and  haughty  bearing. 

Shrinagar,  the  capital,  sometimes  called  Kashmir, 
is  situated  on  the  banks  of  the  Jhelum,  along  which  it 
extends  the  distance  of  about  three  miles;  the  houses 
of  two  stories  in  which  live  a population  of  100,000  in- 
habitants, border  the  banks  of  the  river,  which  is 
spanned  by  .several  bridges;  the  city  is  a little  over  a 
mile  in  width;  steps  lead  from  the  houses  to  the 
waters  of  the  Jhelum,  where  all  the  day  people  are  to 
be  seen  performing  their  sacred  ablutions,  bathing  or 
cleansing  their  utensils  of  copper.  One  part  of  the  in- 
habitants are  followers  of  the  Mahomedan  religion, 
two-thirds  are  Hindus,  with  a few  Buddhists  inter- 
spersed among  them. 

Manufacturers  of  shawls,  gun-makers,  workers  in 
leather  and  papier  mache,  jewelers,  tailors,  shoe-makers, 
watch-menders,  in  fact  all  sorts  of  artisans,  remarkable 
for  their  mechanical  talent  are  to  be  found  in  this  city. 
A visit  to  the  show-rooms  of  shawl-merchants  is  a 
pleasure  to  the  traveler. 

Around  the  city  there  are  several  interesting  places. 
The  Tukht-i-Suliman  or  Solomon’s  Throne  is  an  old 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESTS  CHRIST.  41 

Hindu  temple,  the  oldest  in  Kashmir,  situated  upon  a 
hill,  1,000  feet  above  the  plain.  Its  erection  is  ascribed 
to  Jaloka,  the  son  of  Ashoka,  who  reigned  in  the  third 
century  before  Christ.  The  fort  of  Hari  Parvat  is 
another  interesting  sight;  built  by  Akbar  in  1597  A.  C., 
at  a cost  of  $5,000,000. 

On  the  morning  of  October  27th,  M.  Notovitch  left 
this  interesting  city  to  journey  towards  Thibet,  adding 
to  his  retinue  by  purchasing  a large  dog  which  had  pre- 
viously made  the  journey  in  company  with  the  well- 
known  explorers.  Bon  Valot,  Capus  and  Pepin. 

Upon  reaching  the  chain  of  mountains  which  sep- 
arate the  valley  of  Kashmir  from  the  gorge  of  Sind, 
the  party  were , obliged  to  crawl  on  all  fours  almost  all 
the  way  over  a summit  of  3,000  feet  high;  the  carriers 
were  quite  exhausted  from  their  heavy  loads  and  from 
the  fear  of  rolling  down  the  deep  declivity. 

Descending  from  this  point  they  passed  through 
several  villages,  Chokodar,  Dras,  Karghil,  etc.,  halting 
only  at  these  places  for  rest  or  to  procure  fresh  horses. 
Karghil  is  the  chief  town  of  the  district  and  the  scenery 
is  certainly  picturesque.  It  is  situated  on  the  confluence 
of  the  Suru  and  Wakha  rivers,  the  view  of  which  on  its 
left  side  is  one  of  the  most  striking  the  traveler  can 
ever  behold. 

M.  Notovitch  procured  fresh  horses  here  and  con- 
tinued his  journey  over  a route  far  from  being  pleasant 
or  safe,  sometimes  passing  over  a very  dangerous  road, 
at  other  times  being  obliged  to  cross  a shaky  bridge 
consisting,  as  many  bridges  do  in  Kashmir,  of  two  long 
beams  or  trunks  of  trees  inserted  in  the  crevices  of  the 
rocks  on  either  bank  and  small  poles  or  stones  laid 
across,  sometimes  fagots  being  thrown  on  the  poles  and 
the  whole  covered  with  earth.  The  traveler,  when 
crossing  this  point,  might  well  tremble  at  the  thought 


42  THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

of  a possible  dislodgement  of  a stone  or  the  oscillation 
of  the  beams  which  would  precipitate  the  whole  con- 
struction into  the  yawning  chasm  beneath. 

M.  Notovitch  entered  the  boundaries  of  Ladak  or 
Little  Thibet  and  was  much  astonished  to  find  a sweet, 
simple,  happy  people  who  did  not  indulge  in  or  know 
what  quarreling  was.  Especially  was  he  astonished  at 
this  since  polyandry  flourishes  there  among  the  low- 
class  people.  Polyandry  is  a subject  on  which  differ- 
ent writers  have  risked  their  opinions  without  knowing 
the  facts.  It  is  true  that  among  the  non-Aryan  hill- 
tribes  this  custom  has  existed  for  centuries  and  the 
Hindu  rulers  did  not  interfere  with  them.  They  relied 
not  on  forcing  their  views  upon  a people  but  on  educat- 
ing them  to  it.  The  hill  tribes  who  follow  the  custom 
of  polyandry  are  isolated  communities  and  socially 
have  no  connection  with  the  Hindus.  The  trans-Him- 
alayan  tribes,  too,  follow  this  custom  which  has  existed 
among  them  for  a longtime. 

In  Ladak,  among  the  low-class  people,  each  woman 
has  from  three  to  five  husbands  and  that  in  the  most 
legitimate  manner  in  the  world.  It  is  the  custom,  when 
a man  marries  a woman  she  becomes  the  legal  wife  of 
all  his  brothers.  If  there  is  but  one  son  in  the  family 
he  usually  marries  into  a family  where  there  are  already 
two  or  three  husbands,  and  never  but  one  wife.  The 
days  of  each  husband  are  fixed  in  advance  and  each 
acquits  himself  of  his  duties  promptly  in  the  most  agree- 
able manner.  The  men  are  not  long-lived  or  so  robust 
as  the  women. 

This  practice  existed  long  before  Buddhism  was 
introduced  into  that  country,  which  religion  is  gradually 
uprooting  the  practice  which  is  scarcely  sanctioned 
among  the  more  intelligent  or  better  classes.  P'rom 
the  description  given  by  M.  Notovitch  it  is  evident  that 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

like  other  foreign  travelers  he  has  formed  his  opinionj-: 
of  the  people  from  those  with  whom  he  came  in  con- 
tact. I know  full  well  how  difficult  it  is  for  a foreigner 
to  get  access  to  the  better  classes  of  Oriental  society; 
in  very  rare  instances,  where  one  has  influence  with  a 
native  of  high  standing,  has  he  the  opportunity  to  see 
or  know  the  better  side. 

We  will  leave  polyandry  and  follow  our  traveler  in 
his  journey.  From  Karghil  he  went  to  the  village  of 
Surghol,  twenty  miles  from  the  former  and  standing  on 
the  banks  of  the  Wakha.  Near  it  are  to  be  seen  masses 
of  rocks  forming  long  broad  walls,  upon  which  have 
been  thrown,  in  apparent  disorder,  flat  stones  of  various 
colors  and  sizes,  on  which  are  engraved  all  sorts  of 
prayers  in  Urdu,  Sanskrit  and  Thibetan  characters. 

Leaving  Surghol  with  fresh  horses,  M.  Notovitch 
made  the  next  halt  at  the  village  of  Wakha.  Upon  an 
isolated  rock  over-looking  the  village,  stands  the  con- 
vent of  Moulbek.  With  his  interpreter  and  the  ne- 
gro servant  he  proceeded  to  this  convent;  they  climbed 
the  narrow  steps,  carved  in  the  solid  rock,  on  which 
were  placed  little  prayer-wheels,  which  are  little  drum- 
like shapes  covered  round  the  sides  with  leather  and 
fitted  vertically  in  niches  cut  in  the  rock.  A spindle 
running  through  the  center  enables  them  to  revolve  at 
the  slightest  touch  or  breeze;  there  are  usually  several 
of  these  wheels  in  a row,  larger  -ones  are  placed  separ- 
ate, all  are  decorated  on  the  leather  bands  with  the 
mystic  sentence — “Om  mani  padme  hum,”  i.  e.  Om, 
the  jewel  in  the  lotus,  amen! 

On  the  top  he  was  greeted  by  a Lama,  attired  in 
the  usual  monk’s  robe  of  yellow,  with  a cap  of  the  same 
material,  carrying  in  his  right  hand  a prayer-wheel 
made  of  copper,  which  he  twirled  from  time  to  time 
with  his  left  hand,  without  interrupting  the  conversa- 


44  the  unknown  life  of  JESUS  CHRIST. 

tion.  The  Lama  conducted  the  visitor  through  long, 
low  rooms  and  halls  into  an  open  terrace,  where 
as  soon  as  they  were  seated  attendants  brought  refresh- 
ments. 

The  Thibetan  language  is  spoken  here.  It  is  only 
in  the  monasteries  that  the  Thibetan  is  spoken  in  its 
purity. 

The  Lamas  prefer  visits  from  Europeans  to  those 
from  Mahomedans.  The  reason  of  this  preference  is, 
as  the  Lama  said: 

“ The  Mahomedans  have  no  point  of  contact  with 
our  religion;  in  their  recent  victorious  campaign  they 
converted  by  force  many  Buddhists  to  Islamism;  it  will 
require  great  efforts  to  bring  back  these  descendants  of 
Buddhists  into  the  way  of  the  true  God.  As  for  the 
Europeans,  it  is  an  entirely  different  matter.  Not  only 
do  they  profess  the  essential  principles  of  monotheism, 
but  they  also  are  a part  of  the  worshipers  of  Buddha 
under  almost  the  same  title  as  the  Thibetan  Lamas. 
The  only  error  of  the  Christians  is  that  after  having 
adopted  the  great  doctrine  of  Buddha,  they  completely 
separated  themselves  from  him  and  created  a different 
Dalai  Lama.  Ours  alone  has  received  the  divine  favor 
of  seeing  face  to  face  the  majesty  of  Buddha  a.nd  the 
power  to  serve  as  meditator  between  the  earth  and  the 
heaven.” 

“Who  is  this  Dalai  Lama  of  the  Christians,  of  whom 
you  have  just  spoken?”  asked  M.  Notovitch  to  the 
Lama.  “We  have  a Son  of  God  to  whom  we  address  our 
fervent  prayers,  and  it  is  to  him  that  we  have  recourse 
so  that  he  may  intercede  for  us  to  our  only  and  indivis- 
ible God.” 

“ He  is  not  the  one  in  question  here.  Sahib.  We 
also  respect  him  whom  you  recognize  as  the  Son  of  an 
only  God,  but  wc  do  not  regard  him  as  such  but  as  the 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  45 

excellent  being  chosen  from  among  all;  Buddha,  in 
truth,  incarnated  himself  with  his  intelligence  in  the 
sacred  person  of  Issa,  who  without  the  aid  of  either  fire 
or  sword  went  forth  to  spread  our  grand  and  true  re- 
ligion throughout  the  world.  I allude  to  your  earthly 
Dalai  Lama — to  whom  you  give  the  title  of  the  Father 
of  the  Church.  There  lies  the  great  sin:  Is  he  able  to 
save  the  sinners  who  are  on  the  wrong  road?”  began 
the  Lama  twirling  his  prayer-wheel.  Of  course,  he 
alluded  to  the  Pope. 

“ You  have  just  told  me  that  a son  of  Buddha,  Issa, 
had  been  chosen  to  spread  your  religion  over  the  world. 
Who  then  is  he?”  asked  M.  Notovitch. 

The  Lama  was  amazed  at  the  question  but  said  in 
reply:  “ Issa  is  a great  prophet,  one  of  the  first  after 
the  twenty- two  Buddhas;  he  is  greater  than  all  the 
Dalai  Lamas,  for  he  constitutes  a part  of  the  spirituality 
of  God.  It  is  he  who  has  instructed  you,  who  brings 
back  the  frivolous  souls  to  the  knowledge  of  God,  who 
has  rendered  you  worthy  of  the  blessings  of  the  Creator, 
and  who  has  endowed  each  being  with  the  knowledge 
of  good  and  evil;  his  name  and  deeds  have  been  re- 
corded in  our  sacred  writings,  and,  while  reading  of  his 
great  life  spent  in  the  midst  of  erring  people,  we  weep 
over  the  horrible  sin  of  those  heathens  who  assassinated 
him  after  putting  him  to  the  most  cruel  tortures.” 

M.  Notovitch  was  struck  by  the  words  of  the  Lama 
— the  prophet  Issa,  his  tortures,  his  death,  the  Chris- 
tian Dalai  Lama  and  the  recognition  of  Christianity  by 
the  Buddhists — all  this  made  him  think  more  and  more 
of  Jesus  Christ;  and  he  begged  his  interpreter  to  omit 
none  of  the  words  of  the  Lama.  He  asked  the  Lama 
where  those  sacred  writings  could  be  found  and  who 
bad  written  them. 

“ The  principal  rolls,”  said  the  Lama,  “ which  have 


46  THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

been  compiled  in  India  and  Nepal  at  different  times 
according  to  the  course  of  events,  are  to  be  found  at 
Lassa  and  number  several  thousands.  In  some  of  the 
larger  convents  there  are  copies  made  by  the  Lamas  at 
different  times  during  their  sojourn  at  Lassa  and  pre- 
sented to  their  convents  in  remembrance  of  their  so- 
journ with  the  great  master,  our  Dalai  Lama.” 

“ Do  you  not  possess  any  of  these  copies  relating 
to  the  prophet  Issa?  ” 

“No,  we  have  none  of  them.  Our  convent  is  rather 
unimportant  and  since  its  foundation  our  successive 
Lamas  have  only  collected  a few  hundred  works  for 
their  own  use.  The  great  cloisters  possess  thousands 
of  them  but  they  are  sacred  things  and  they  will  not 
show  them  to  you.” 

They  conversed  together  a little  longer,  after  which 
M.  Notovitch  retired  to  the  camp,  reflecting  deeply  on 
all  the  words  of  the  Lama.  Issa,  the  prophet  of  the 
Buddhists  ! But  how  could  that  be?  Being  of  the 
Jewish  origin  he  lived  in  Palestine  and  Egypt,  and  the 
Scriptures  contain  not  a word,  not  the  slightest  allusion 
to  the  role  which  Buddhism  must  have  played  in  the 
education  of  Jesus. 

He  decided  to  visit  all  the  convents  of  Thibet,  hop- 
ing  to  gather  more  ample  information  concerning  the 
prophet  Issa,  and  perhaps  find  copies  of  the  documents 
in  question. 

Our  traveler  continued  his  journey,  crossing  the  pass 
of  Namikula,  13,000  feet  high.  He  arrived  at  the  vil- 
lage of  Lamieroo  where  he  put  up  at  an  inn  just  under 
the  windows  of  a convent,  where  he  was  immediately 
visited  by  several  monks  who  plied  him  with  many 
questions  as  to  the  route  he  came  by,  the  object  of  his 
journey,  etc.,  etc. 

Lamieroo,  as  the  name  would  imply,  was  the  head- 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  47 

quarters  for  the  Lamas  and  their  religion  for  many 
years.  Upon  the  extreme  top  ledge  of  a precipice  of 
concrete  stone  stands  the  old  monastery,  curious  enough 
in  its  construction  of  stone,  overlooking  the  village 
some  hundred  feet  below,  the  houses  being  perched  on 
pinnacles  of  rock  and  scattered  about  here  and  there. 
The  illustration  (p.  105)  represents  a cluster  of  monu- 
ment-like buildings  which  line  the  path  and  are  dotted 
about  in  groups  of  from  three  to  twelve  or  fourteen 
together.  They  stand  about  seven  feet  high  and  are,  as 
the  inhabitants  of  the  village  claim,  erected  over  the 
defunct  Lamas  and  other  saints  of  the  Buddhist  relig- 
ion, after  which  they  become  sacred  in  the  eyes  of  the 
faithful,  who  refer  to  them  with  bowings  and  scrapings 
and  ‘‘Om  mani  padme  hums”  innumerable.* 

After  some  conversation,  the  monks  invited  M. 
Notovitch  to  visit  the  convent,  which  invitation  he  at 
once  accepted  and  followed  them  up  the  steep  passages 
cut  in  the  solid  rock,  which  was  thickly  studded  with 
prayer-wheels  that  are  set  twirling  by  the  slighest  touch, 
which  is  unavoidable  in  ascending  the  narrow  passage. 

He  was  conducted  to  a room,  the  walls  of  which 
were  adorned  with  books,  prayer-wheels  and  numerous 
statues  of  Buddha.  He  inquired  about  the  manuscript 
relating  to  Issa,  of  which  he  had  heard  from  the  Lama 
of  the  Moulbek  monastery.  The  monks  here  also  de- 
nied having  any  of  the  rolls  in  their  possession;  one 
monk,  however,  acknowledged  that  he  had  seen  many 
copies  of  the  manuscript  in  a convent  near  Leh,  where 
he  had  spent  many  years  previous  to  his  appointment 
to  Lamieroo;  but  the  visitor  was  unable  to  induce  the 
monk  to  mention  the  name  of  the  convent  where  the 
rolls  were  kept,  and  further  questioning  only  provoked 
suspicion. 


*“The  Diary  of  a Pedestrian.” 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

Europeans  have  not  yet  understood  the  reason  why 
the  monks  and  other  custodians  of  the  sacred  literature 
of  the  East  have  been  unwilling  to  give  full  informa- 
tion about  manuscripts,  although  they  would  gladly 
explain  the  significance  of  other  sacred  objects;  nor 
did  M.  Notovitch  comprehend  the  reason  for  the  refusal 
of  the  monks  of  Lamieroo  to  give  him  the  desired  in- 
formation of  the  rolls  relating  to  Jesus  Christ. 

In  India,  also,  the  European  scholars  and  professors 
meet  with  the  same  difficulties.  Dr.  Peterson,  Professor 
of  Oriental  Languages,  met  with  a similar  experience. 
There  is  a famous  library  of  Jain  manuscripts  at  Cam- 
bay,  India.  Dr.  Peterson,  in  1885,  desiring  to  examine 
the  manuscripts,  made  application  to  the  custodians  of 
the  library,  but  was  met  with  the  most  positive  denial 
of  the  existence  of  any  such  library.  Professor  Roth,  of 
Tubingen,  wanted  to  know  if  there  was  a manuscript  of 
the  Atharva  Veda  in  the  Brahmin  Library  of  Gwalior, 
but  he  was  unable  to  obtain  any  information,  although 
the  political  officer  of  that  part  of  the  country  used  his 
influence  to  put  him  in  possession  of  a copy  of  the 
book.  Dr.  Bhandarkar,  of  the  Deccan  College,  Poona, 
succeeded  in  examining  only  a few  manuscripts  of  the 
Jain  Libraries  of  Patan,  and  that  only  through  the  in- 
fluence of  the  ruling  prince,  H.  H.  the  Gaikwar  of  Ba- 
roda.  Drs.  Buhler  and  Kielhorn,  of  Vienna  and  Leip- 
sic,  are  under  the  fond  impression  that  they  have  exam- 
ined the  whole  collection  of  the  Jain  manuscripts  at 
Jesalmer.  But  I know  as  a fact  that  the  most  impor- 
tant collection  has  never  been  shown  to  any  foreigner. 
Europeans,  as  I said,  have  not  been  able  to  understand 
the  reason  why  they  are  met  with  opposing  obstacles 
in  the  search  of  ancient  manuscripts.  To  me,  however, 
in  my  official  capacity  as  the  Secretary  of  the  Jain  As- 
sociation of  India,  the  reason  is  simple  enough.  In  the 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  49 

first  place,  the  Mahomedan  invadors  of  India  burned 
our  scraced  manuscripts  by  hundreds  and  thousands; 
and,  secondly,  the  first  Christian  missionaries  who  vis- 
ited India  possessed  themselves  of  some  of  these  man- 
uscripts simply  with  a view  to  deride  and  belittle 
them,  as  it  appears  even  in  these  days  from  the  mass  of 
rubbish  which  they  have  published  in  India  on  the  re- 
ligions of  the  people  of  that  country.  The  Hindus  and 
Jains,  therefore,  have  always  shown  reluctance  to  part 
with  their  manuscripts. 

Thibet,  and  especially  Ladak,  has  had  the  same  ex- 
perience. A former  ruler  of  Thibet,  Langdar,  other- 
wise called  Langdharma,  had  tried  to  abolish  the  Bud- 
dhist doctrine  in  900  A.  C.  He  had  commanded  all 
temples  and  monasteries  to  be  demolished,  the  ima- 
ages  to  be  destroyed  and  the  sacred  books  to  be  burnt. 
So  intense  was  the  indignation  excited  by  these  acts  of 
sacrilege  that  he  was  murdered  in  the  same  year.  In 
the  sixteenth  century,  the  historical  books  concerning 
Ladak  were  destroyed  by  the  fanatical  Mahomedans  of 
Skardo  who  invaded  the  country,  burned  the  monas- 
teries, temples  and  religious  monuments,  and  threw  the 
contents  of  various  libraries  into  the  river  Indus.  Is  it 
astonishing  then  that  the  Lama  of  the  Lamieroo  mon- 
astery should  look  with  suspicions  on  the  minute  ques- 
tioning of  M.  Notovitch? 

From  Lamieroo,  M.  Notovitch  directed  his  atten- 
tion towards  Leh  with  the  avowed  determination  of 
securing  the  manuscripts  in  question  or  go  to  Lassa. 
He  therefore  journeyed  onward  over  difficult  gorges, 
dangerous  mountain  passes,  and  through  pleasant  val- 
leys, passing  the  celebrated  fortress  of  Khalsi,  dating 
from  the  time  of  the  Mahomedan  invasion,  this  being 
the  only  road  leading  from  Kashmir  to  Thibet. 

In  crossing  the  valley  Saspula  and  near  the  village 


50  THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

of  the  same  name,  one  sees  two  convents,  on  one  of 
which  our  traveler  was  surprised  to  see  floating  a French 
flag,  a present,  he  afterward  learned,  from  a French 
engineer  and  used  by  the  monks  simply  as  a decoration. 

M.  Notovitch  spent  the  night  at  the  village  and 
visited  these  convents  where  the  monks  took  great  de- 
light in  showing  their  visitor  their  books,  rolls,  images 
of  Buddha,  and  the  prayer-wheels,  explaining  politely 
and  patiently  all  the  sacred  objects.  Here,  also,  M. 
Notovitch  received  the  same  answers  in  reply  to  his 
inquiries,  i.e.,  that  the  great  monasteries  alone  possessed 
copies  relating  to  the  prophet  Issa. 

From  here  the  traveler  hastened  on  towards  Leh, 
with  no  other  object  now  than  to  secure  a copy  of  the 
Buddhist  records  of  the  life  of  Jesus,  which  might  per- 
haps, he  thought,  show  the  inner  life  of  the  best  of  men 
and  complete  the  details  so  indistinct  which  the  Script- 
ures give  us  about  him. 

On  his  arrival  at  Leh,  M.  Notovitch  put  up  at  the 
bungalow,  specially  built  for  Europeans  who  come  over 
the  Indian  route  in  the  hunting  season. 

Leh,  the  capital  of  Ladak,  is  a small  town  of  five 
thousand  inhabitants.  It  is  built  on  pinnacles  of  rock. 
From  a distance  it  has  an  imposing  appearance  which 
it  owes  entirely  to  the  palace,  built  on  a slight  eminence, 
possessing  a front  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  and 
which  is  seven  stories  high.  High  above  it,  on  the  summit 
of  a rocky  mountain,  is  a monastery  with  its  painted  bat- 
tlements and  flags.  In  the  centre  of  the  town  is  a square, 
or  market  place,  where  merchants  of  India,  China,  Turk- 
istan,  Kashmir  and  Thibet,  come  to  exchange  their 
products  for  Thibetan  gold. 

The  governor  of  Ladak,  Vizier  Surajbal,  who  has 
taken  his  degree  as  Doctor  of  Philosophy  in  London, 
resides  in  a vast  two-storied  building  in  the  centre  of 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  5V 

the  town.  In  honor  of  the  foreign  visitor  he  organized 
a polo  game  in  the  square,  ending  in  the  evening  with 
dances  and  games  in  front  of  his  terrace. 

The  following  day  M.  Notovitch  visited  the  fam^ 
ous  Himis  monastery,  about  twenty  miles  from  Leh, 
situated  on  a high  rock  in  the  midst  of  the  valley,  over- 
looking the  river  Indus.  Himis  is  one  of  the  principal 
monasteries  of  the  country  and  contains  a vast  library 
of  sacred  works. 

The  entrance  door  is  about  six  feet  high,  with  steps 
leading  up  to  it.  The  large  massive  doors  painted  with 
bright  colors  open  into  a court  paved  with  pebbles.  In- 
side is  the  principal  temple  containing  a large  statue  of 
Buddha  and  other  smaller  statues.  On  the  left  is  a 
veranda  with  an  immense  prayer-wheel  on  it;  on  the 
right  there  is  a row  of  rooms  for  monks,  all  adorned 
with  sacred  paintings  and  small-prayer  wheels. 

The  windows  of  the  upper  story,  looking  outward, 
have  no  panes  of  glass,  but  are  closed  by  black  curtains, 
upon  which  are  sewn  figures  of  a Latin  cross,  formed  of 
white  strips  of  cloth.  The  cross  in  different  forms  has 
been  recognized  as  a mystic  symbol  by  all  ancient  na- 
tions. 

At  the  moment  of  his  arrival  M.  Notovitch  found 
all  the  Lamas  of  the  convent,  with  their  Lama-in-chief, 
formed  in  a circle  around  the  great  prayer-wheel.  Un- 
derneath the  veranda  several  musicians  held  drums  and 
long  trumpets.  The  whole  company  was  anxiously 
awaiting  in  silence  the  commencement  of  a great  relig- 
ious mystery  which  was  about  to  be  presented.  It  is 
called  a religious  drama. 

On  certain  days  of  the  year  religious  dramas  are 
performed  by  the  Lamas,  who  call  them  Tambin  Shi, 
“ the  bliss  of  instruction.”  Sometimes  these  dramas 
are  performed  by  them,  in  honor  of  distinguished  visit- 


52  THF  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

ors  to  their  convent.  Masked  actors  are  introduced, 
who  represent  fantastically  the  various  states  of  exist- 
ence— spirits,  men,  animals,  etc.  This  festival,  with  its 
singing,  music  and  dancing,  lasted  for  several  hours. 
At  the  end,  the  Lama-in-chief  invited  the  visitor  to  ac- 
company him  to  the  principal  terrace,  where  they  drank 
the  chang  of  the  festival  (a  kind  of  tasteless  beer). 

Regarding  this  religious  festival,  the  Lama  ex- 
plained to  the  visitor  that  there  was  a religious  side  to 
all  this  theatrical  performance  which  expressed  to  the 
initiate  the  fundamental  principles  of  Buddhism,  and 
was  a practical  means  for  maintaining  the  ignorant  in 
obedience  and  love  to  the  only  Creator,  just  as  a child 
is  submissive  to  its  parent  by  a plaything.  These  mon- 
asteries have  several  such  festivals  in  a year,  where  the 
particulars  are  arranged  by  the  Lamas  to  represent 
mysteries  which  have  a great  analogy  to  the  panto- 
mimes, where  each  actor  executes  almost  all  the  move- 
ments and  gestures  he  pleases  in  conforming  himself  to 
a principal  idea.  The  mysteries  of  these  pantomimes 
are  nothing  but  a representation  of  the  gods  enjoying  a 
general  veneration — veneration  which  as  a reward  ought 
to  give  to  man  the  happiness  of  conscience  with  which 
the  idea  of  inevitable  death  and  that  of  future  life  fill 
him. 

Seizing  upon  the  first  moment  which  presented  to 
broach  the  subject,  M.  Notovitch  told  the  Lama  that  in 
a recent  visit  which  he  had  made  to  a Gonpa*,  one  of 
the  Lamas  had  spoken  of  a prophet  Issa,  and  asked  for 
further  information. 

The  Lama  replied:  “The  name  of  Issa  is  much 
respected  among  Buddhists,  but  he  is  scarcely  known 
except  among  the  chief  Lamas,  who  have  read  the  rolls 
relating  to  his  life.  There  is  an  infinite  number  of 


* Gonpa  is  a Thibetan  name  for  a monestery. 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  53 

Buddhas,  similar  to  Issa,  and  the  eighty-four  tnousand 
rolls  which  exist  abound  in  details  about  each  of  them; 
but  very  few  people  have  read  a hundredth  part  of 
them.  In  order  to  conform  to  the  established  custom, 
each  pupil  or  Lama  who  has  visited  Lassa  does  not  fail 
to  make  a present  of  one  or  more  of  these  copies  to  the 
convent  to  which  he  belongs.  Our  monastery  pos- 
sesses a great  number  of  these,  and  among  them  are 
descriptions  of  the  life  and  works  of  Buddha  Issa,  who 
preached  the  holy  doctrines  in  India  and  among  the 
sons  of  Israel,  and  who  was  put  to  death  by  the  heathen 
whose  descendants  adopted  the  beliefs  which  he  advo- 
cated, and  these  beliefs  are  yours.  The  great  Buddha, 
the  soul  of  the  universe,  is  the  incarnation  of  Brahma. 
He  remains  motionless  most  of  the  time,  enclosing 
within  himself  all  things  since  the  origin  of  beings,  and 
his  breath  gives  life  to  the  world.  He  has  left  man  to 
his  own  will;  at  certain  times,  however,  he  throws  off 
his  inaction  and  invests  himself  with  a human  form  in 
order  to  try  and  save  his  creatures  from  irremediable 
destruction.  In  the  course  of  his  terrestrial  existence, 
Buddha  creates  a new  world  among  the  misled  people; 
then  he  disappears  again  from  the  earth  to  become  once 
• more  an  invisible  being,  and  return  to  his  life  of  perfect 
felicity.  Three  thousand  years  ago  the  great  Buddha 
incarnated  himself  into  the  celebrated  Prince  Shakya 
Muni,  upholding  and  spreading  abroad  the  doctrines  of 
his  twenty  incarnations.  Two  thousand  five  hundred 
years  ago  the  great  soul  of  the  world  incarnated  itself 
again  in  Gautama,  casting  the  foundation  of  a new  world 
in  Burma,  in  Siam  and  in  different  islands.  Soon  after- 
wards Buddhism  commenced  to  penetrate  in  China, 
thanks  to  the  perseverance  of  the  wise  men  who  devot- 
ed themselves  to  propagate  the  holy  doctrine,  and  under 
Ming-Ti,  of  the  dynasty  of  Honi,  about  2,050  B.  C.,  the 


54  the  unknown  life  of  JESUS  CHRIST. 

doctrines  of  Shakya  Muni  received  the  adoption  of  the 
people.  Simultaneously  with  the  appearance  of  Bud- 
dhism in  China,  the  doctrine  commenced  to  spread 
itself  among  the  Israelites.  About  2,000  years  ago  the 
Perfect  Being,  still  remaining  in  a state  of  inaction,  incar- 
nated himself  in  a new-born  babe  of  a poor  family  He 
willed  that  infant  lips,  by  employing  popular  images, 
might  enlighten  the  unfortunate  people  on  the  life  be- 
yond the  grave,  and  might  bring  back  men  to  the  true 
path,  by  indicating  to  them  by  his  own  example  the  way 
which  would  best  lead  them  to  the  original  moral  purity. 
When  the  holy  child  had  reached  a certain  age  he  was 
taken  to  India,  where,  until  he  became  a man,  he  studied 
all  the  laws  of  the  great  Buddha,  whose  everlasting 
dwelling  is  in  heaven.” 

“The  rolls  brought  from  India  to  Nepal  and  from 
Nepal  to  Thibet,  relating  to  the  life  of  Issa,  are  written 
in  the  Pali  language,  and  these  are  to  be  found  at  Lassa, 
but  a copy  in  our  language  [Thibetan]  exists  here. 
The  masses  are,  however,  ignorant  of  Issa;  there  is 
scarcely  any  one  but  the  great  Lamas  who  know  of 
him,  because  they  have  spent  their  entire  lives  studying 
these  rolls  which  relate  to  Issa.  But  as  his  doctrine 
does  not  constitute  a cannonical  part  of  Buddhism,  and 
as  the  worshipers  of  Issa  [Christians]  do  not  recog- 
nize the  authority  of  the  Dalai  Lama,  in  Thibet  the 
prophet  Issa  is,  like  many  of  his  kind,  not  recognized 
as  one  of  their  principal  saints.” 

Here  M.  Notovitch  inquired  whether  the  act  would 
be  sinful,  should  he  recite  these  copies  to  a stranger; 
the  Lama  replied:  “That  which  belongs  to  God  be- 
longs also  to  men;  duty  obliges  us  to  help  with  good 
grace  the  propogation  of  his  doctrines;  only,  I have  no 
knowledge  of  where  in  our  libraries  these  rolls  are  to  be 
found;  if  you  ever  visit  our  Gonpa  again  it  will  be  a 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  55 

pleasure  to  me  to  show  them  to  you.”  Whereupon  the 
Lama  arose,  saying  that  he  was  wanted  for  the  sacri- 
fices and  asked  kindly  to  be  excused,  and  saluting  the 
visitor,  disappeared  through  the  doorway. 

There  was  nothing  left  for  the  somewhat  disap- 
pointed traveler  to  do,  but  return  to  Leh  and  think  out 
a plan  which  would  furnish  an  excuse  for  returning  to 
the  convent.  Two  days  later,  he  sent  to  the  chief 
Lama  a present  consisting  of  an  alarm-clock  and  a 
thermometer,  with  a message  that  he  would  probably 
pay  a second  visit  to  the  convent  before  leaving  Ladak 
and  hoped  that  the  Lama  would  favor  him  by  showing 
him  the  rolls  which  had  been  the  subject  of  their  last 
conversation.  M.  Notovitch  had  formed  the  plan  of  leav- 
ing for  Kashmir  and  again  returning  to  Himis  in  order 
to  allay  any  suspicion  which  might  arise  regarding  his 
persistent  inquiries  concerning  those  rolls  of  the  life  of 
Issa.  But  fate  decided  the  matter  in  his  f^vor,  for  in 
passing  along  the  mountain  side,  on  the  top  of  which 
stands  the  Gonpa  of  Pittak,  his  horse  stumbled,  by 
which  our  traveler  was  thrown  to  the  ground  and  his 
leg  broken.  Not  desiring  to  return  to  Leh,  he  ordered 
his  porters  to  carry  him  to  the  Himis  monastery,  where 
he  was  received  and  kindly  cared  for. 

M.  Notovitch  says:  “In  the  morning  I bandaged 
my  leg  with  small  oblong  sticks  which  I tied  together 
with  a cord.  I tried  to  make  no  superfluous  move- 
ments; a favorable  result  was  soon  apparent;  two  days 
afterwards  I was  in  a condition  to  leave  the  Gonpa  and 
to  undertake  a slow  journey  towards  India  to  find  a 
doctor. 

“ While  a young  boy  kept  twirling  all  the  time  the 
prayer-wheel  which  was  near  my  bed,  the  venerable  old 
man  who  superintended  the  Gonpa  entertained  me  with 
interesting  stories;  he  often  drew  from  their  cases  my 


56  THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

alarm-clock  and  my  watch  asking  me  how  to  wind  them 
up  and  what  their  use  was.  Acceding  finally  to  my 
urgent  requests  he  brought  me  two  large  bound  books 
whose  large  leaves  of  paper  had  become  yellow  by 
time;  he  then  read  to  me  the  biography  of  Issa 
which  I wrote  dow-n  carefully  in  my  note-book  accord- 
ing to  the  translation  which  my  interpreter  made  for 
me.  This  curious  document  is  written  in  the  form  of 
isolated  verses  which  very  often  have  no  connection 
with  one  another. 

“The  third  day  my  health  was  so  much  improved 
that  it  allowed  me  to  continue  my  journey.  After  hav- 
ing dressed  my  leg  I turned  back  crossing  Kashmir  on 
my  way  to  India.  * ^ * I have  long  since  de- 

sired to  publish  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ  which  I found 
at  Himis  and  of  which  I have  spoken  above;  but  all 
kinds  of  business  have  completely  taken  up  my  time. 
It  is  only  to-day  after  having  spent  long  restless  nights 
in  arranging  my  notes,  after  having  suitably  grouped 
the  verses  in  accordance  with  the  narrative  and  im- 
pressed upon  the  whole  the  character  of  unity,  that  I 
resolved  to  publish  THIS  curious  copy.’' 


Hari  Parvat.— See  page  41. 


THE  LIFE  OF  SAINT  ISSA. 

THE  BEST  OF  THE  SONS  OF  MEN. 

I. 

The  earth  trembled  and  the  heavens  wept  because  of 
the  great  crime  just  committed  in  the  land  of  Israel. 

— 2 — 

For  they  have  just  finished  torturing  and  executing 
there  the  great,  just  Issa  in  whom  dwelt  the  soul  of  the 
universe, 

— 3— 

Who  incarnated  himself  in  a simple  mortal  in  order 
to  do  good  to  men  and  to  exterminate  evil  thoughts 

—4— 

And  in  order  to  bring  back  man  degraded  by  sins  to 
a life  of  peace,  love  and  good,  and  to  recall  him  to  the 
only  and  indivisible  Creator,  whose  mercy  is  infinite  and 
boundless. 

♦ — 5— 

This  is  what  the  merchants,  who  came  from  Israel, 
relate  on  the  subject. 


IL 

The  people  of  Israel  lived  on  a very  fertile  land, 
yielding  two  harvests  a year,  and  possessed  large  flocks; 
they  excited  by  their  sins  the  wrath  of  God, 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  59 

_ — 2- — 

Who  inflicted  on  them  a terrible  punishment,  taking 
away  their  land,  their  flocks  and  their  possessions. 
Israel  was  reduced  to  slavery  by  the  powerful  and  rich 
Pharaohs  who  then  reigned  in  Egypt. 

-3-; 

The  latter  had  made  slaves  of  the  Israelites  and 
treated  them  worse  than  beasts,  overloading  them  with 
heavy  and  difficult  work  and  putting  them  in  irons  and 
covering  their  bodies  with  wounds  and  scars,  denying 
them  sufficient  food  and  shelter. 

— 4— 

This  was  in  order  to  keep  them  in  a state  of  continual 
fear  and  deprive  them  of  all  resemblance  to  human 
beings; 

— 5— 

And  in  this  great  calamity  the  people  of  Israel,  re- 
membering their  heavenly  Protector,  prayed  and 
implored  His  grace  and  pity. 

— 6— 

An  illustrious  Pharaoh  reigned  in  Egypt  at  this  time 
who  rendered  himself  famous  by  his  numerous  victories 
and  riches  which  he  had  accumulated  and  the  large 
palaces  which  his  slaves  had  erected  with  their  own 
hands. 

— 7— 

This  Pharaoh  had  two  sons,  the  younger  of  whom 
was  called  Mossa;  the  wise  men  of  Israel  taught  him 
different  sciences. 

— 8— 

And  they  loved  Mossa  in  Egypt  for  his  kindness  and 
for  the  compassion  which  he  showed  to  all  those  who 
suffered. 

— 9— 

Seeing  that  the  Israelites  would  not,  in  spite  of  the 


60  THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

intolerable  sufferings  which  they  endured,  abandon 
their  God  to  worship  those  which  the  hand  of  man 
had  made  and  which  were  the  gods  of  the  Egyptians, 

— 10 — 

Mossa  believed  in  their  invisible  God  who  did  not 
allow  their  weakened  forces  to  fail, 

— II — 

And  the  Israelite  teachers  excited  the  ardor  of  Mossa 
and  implored  him  to  intercede  with  Pharaoh  his  father, 
in  favor  of  his  co-religionists. 

— 12 — 

The  Prince  Mossa  applied  to  his  father  imploring  him 
to  ameliorate  the  fate  of  the  unfortunate  people,  but 
Pharaoh  was  enraged  against  him  and  only  increased 
the  torments  of  his  slaves. 

— 13— 

Shortly  afterwards,  a great  misfortune  visited  Egypt; 
the  plague  cut  down  the  young  and  the  old,  the  sick 
and  the  well,  Pharaoh  believed  that  his  own  gods  were 
angry  with  him; 

— 14— 

But  Prince  Mossa  told  his  father  that  it  was  the  God 
of  the  slaves  who  was  interceding  in  favor  of  the  un- 
fortunates and  was  punishing  the  Egyptians; 

— 15— 

Pharaoh  then  ordered  Mossa  to  take  all  the  slaves  of 
the  Jewish  race  and  lead  them  out  of  the  city,  and  to 
found  at  a great  distance  from  the  capital  another  city 
and  there  to  live  with  them. 

— 16 — 

Mossa  told  the  Hebrew  slaves  that  he  had  freed  them 
in  the  name  of  his  God,  the  God  of  Israel;  he  departed 
with  them  from  the  city  and  from  the  land  of  Egypt. 

17- 

He  led  th^m  into  the  land  which  they  had  formerly 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  6l 

lost  by  their  many  sins;  he  gave  them  laws  and  advised 
them  always  to  pray  to  the  invisible  Creator  whose 
kindness  is  infinite. 

— 18 — 

After  the  death  of  the  Prince  Mossa  the  Israelites 
observed  his  laws  rigorously;  God  too  recompensed 
them  for  the  evils  to  which  they  had  been  subjected  in 
Egypt. 

—19— 

Their  kingdom  became  the  most  powerful  in  all  the 
world,  their  kings  became  illustrious  on  account  of  their 
treasures  and  peace  reigned  long  among  the  people  of 
Israel. 


III. 

— I — 

The  fame  of  the  riches  of  Israel  was  spread  through- 
out the  earth  and  the  neighboring  nations  envied  them. 

— 2 — 

But  God  led  the  victorious  armies  of  the  Hebrews 
and  the  heathen  dared  not  attack  them. 

'j 

Unfortunately,  man  does  not  always  obey  his  own 
better  self,  so  the  fidelity  of  the  Israelities  to  their  God 
did  not  long  endure. 

— 4— 

They  soon  forgot  all  the  favors  which  He  had 
heaped  upon  them,  and  rarely  invoked  His  name,  but 
begged  protection  of  the  magicians  and  sorcerers; 

— 5— 

The  kings  and  captains  submitted  iheir  own  laws 
for  those  that  Moses  had  left  to  them;  the  temples  of 
God  and  the  customs  of  worship  were  abandoned,  and 


62 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

the  people  gave  themselves  up  to  pleasures  and  lost 
their  original  purity. 

— 6— 

Several  centuries  had  elapsed  since  their  departure 
from  Egypt,  when  God  again  thought  of  inflicting  pun- 
ishment on  them. 

Strangers  began  to  invade  the  country  of  Israel, 
devastating  the  land,  ruining  the  villages  and  forcing 
the  inhabitants  into  captivity. 

— 8— 

Heathens  at  one  time  came  from  beyond  the  seas 
from  the  country  of  Romulus;  they  subdued  the  He- 
brews and  appointed  commanders  of  the  army  who 
goverened  them  under  the  orders  of  Caesar. 

—9— 

They  destroyed  the  temples,  compelling  the  people 
to  sacrifice  victims  to  the  heathen  gods  instead  of 
worshiping  the  invisible  God. 

— 10 — 

Warriors  were  made  of  the  nobles,  the  women  were 
torn  from  their  husbands;  the  lower  class  of  the  people, 
reduced  to  slavery,  were  sent  by  thousands  across  the 
sea. 

— II  — 

As  to  the  children  they  were  killed  by  the  sword, 
and  throughout  the  whole  country  of  Israel  nothing 
but  weeping  and  groaning  was  heard. 

— 12— 

In  their  sore  distress  the  people  remembered  again 
their  great  God;  they  implored  His  mercy  and  prayed 
Him  to  forgive  them.  Our  Father  in  His  inexhausti' 
ble  kindness  listened  to  their  appeal. 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  63 

'IV. 

The  time  had  now  come  when  the  merciful  Judge 
had  chosen  to  incarnate  Himself  in  a human  being. 

—2 — 

And  the  Eternal  Spirit  who  remained  in  a condi- 
tion of  complete  inaction  and  of  supreme  beatitude, 
aroused  and  detached  Himself  for  an  indefinite  time 
from  the  Eternal  Being, 

—3—  . 

In  order  to  show,  by  assuming  the  human  form,  the 
means  of  identifying  one’s  self  with  divinity  and  attain- 
ing eternal  felicity; 

— 4— 

And  to  show  by  His  example  how  we  may  attain 
moral  purity  and  separate  the  sotil  from  its  material 
envelope  so  that  it  may  reach  the  perfection  necessary 
to  pass  into  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  which  is  unchange- 
able and  where  eternal  happiness  reigns. 

5 

Soon  after,  a wonderful  child  was  born  in  the  land 
of  Israel;  God  Himself  spoke  by  the  mouth  of  this 
child  of  the  insignificance  of  body,  and  the  grandeur  of 
soul. 

— 6 — 

The  parents  of  this  child  were  poor  people,  belong- 
ing by  birth  to  a family  distinguished  for  their  piety, 
who  had  forgotten  their  ancient  grandeur  on  earth,  in 
celebrating  the  name  of  the  Creator  and  thanking  Him 
for  the  misfortunes  with  which  He  was  pleased  to  try 
them. 

— 7— 

To  reward  this  family  for  remaining  firm  in  the 
path  of  truth,  God  blessed  their  first-born  child  and 
elected  him  to  go  forth  and  uplift  those  that  had  fallen 
m evil  and  to  cure  those  that  were  suffering. 


^4  THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

— 8— 

The  divine  child,  to  whom  they  gave  the  name  of 
Jssa,  began  to  speak,  while  yet  a child,  of  the  one  indi- 
visible God,  exhorting  the  erring  souls  to  repent  and  to 
purify  themselves  from  those  sins,  of  which  they  were 
guilty. 

^ — 9- 

People  came  from  all  parts  to  listen  to  him  and 
they  marvelled  at  the  words  of  wisdom  which  issued 
from  his  childish  mouth;  all  the  Israelites  affirmed 
t hat  in  this  child  dwelt  the  Eternal  Spirit. 

— 10 — 

When  Issa  reached  the  age  of  thirteen  years,  the 
time  when  an  Israelite  should  take  a wife, 

— II — 

The  house  where  his  parents  earned  a livelihood 
by  means  of  modest  labor,  began  to  be  a place  of  meet- 
fng  for  the  rich  and  noble  people  who  desired  to  have 
the  young  Issa  for  a son-in-law,  who  was  already  well- 
known  by  his  edifying  discourses  in  the  name  of  All- 
Powerful  ; 

— 12 — 

It  was  then  that  Issa  disappeared  secretly  from  his 
father’s  house,  left  Jerusalem,  and  with  a caravan  of 
merchants,  went  toward  Sindh, 

-13— 

With  the  purpose  of  perfecting  himself  in  the  di- 
vine knowledge  and  of  studying  the  laws  of  the  great 
ikiddhas. 


V. 

In  the  course  of  his  fourteenth  year,  the  young 


1 

I 


The  Seventh  Bridge  of  Shrinagar. — See 


66 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

Issa,  blessed  of  God,  crossed  the  Sindh  and  established 
himself  among  the  Aryas,  in  the  cherished  country  of 
God. 

— 2 — 

The  fame  of  this  wonderful  youth  spread  through- 
out Northern  Sindh;  when  he  crossed  the  country  of 
the  five  rivers  and  Rajputana,  the  worshippers  of  the 
Jaina  God  implored  him  to  dwell  with  them. 

— 3— 

But  he  left  them  and  went  to  Jagannath,  in  the 
country  of  Orissa,  where  lie  the  mortal  remains  of 
Vyasa-Krishna.  Here  the  white  priests  of  Brahma  re- 
ceived him  joyfully. 

-4— 

They  taught  him  to  read  and  understand  the  Vedas, 
to  cure  with  the  aid  of  prayers,  to  teach  and  explain 
the  holy  scriptures  to  the  people,  to  drive  away  the  evil 
spirit  from  the  body  of  man,  and  to  restore  to  him  the 
human  form. 

— 5— 

He  spent  six  years  in  Jagannath,  Rajagriha,  Bena- 
res and  other  holy  cities.  Every  one  loved  Issa,  for  he 
lived  in  peace  with  the  Vaishyas  and  Shudras,  to  whom 
he  taught  the  holy  scripture. 

— 6— 

But  the  Brahmins  and  Kshatriyas  said  to  him  that 
the  great  Para-Brahma  had  forbidden  them  to  approach 
those  whom  he  had  created  from  his  belly  and  from  his 
feet; 

— 7— 

That  the  Vaishyas  were  authorized  to  hear  the  read- 
ing of  the  Vedas  only  on  the  festival  days, 

— 8— 

That  the  Shudras  were  not  only  forbidden  to  attend 
the  reading  of  the  Vedas,  but  even  to  look  at  them;  for 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  67 

their  condition  was  to  serve  forever  as  slaves  to  the 
Brahmins,  the  Kshatriyas  and  even  the  Vaishyas; 

— 9— 

“ Death  alone  can  free  them  from  their  servitude,” 
Para-Brahma  has  said:  “Leave  them,  therefore,  and 
come  and  worship  with  us  the  gods  that  will  be  angry 
with  you  if  you  disobey  them.” 

— 10 — 

But  Issa  did  not  heed  their  words,  and  went  among 
the  Shudras  to  preach  against  the  Brahmins  and  the 
Kshatriyas. 

— 1 1 — 

He  strongly  denounced  the  doctrine  that  gives  to 
men  the  power  of  robbing  their  fellow-men  of  their 
human  rights;  in  truth,  he  said:  “ God  the  Father  has 
established  no  difference  between  his  children,  who  are 
all  equally  dear  to  him.” 

— 12 — 

Issa  denied  the  divine  origin  of  the  Vedas  and  the 
Puranas,  for  he  taught  his  followers  that  one  law  had 
been  given  to  man  to  guide  him  in  his  actions: 

— 13— 

“ Fear  thy  God,  bend  thy  knee  only  before  Him,  and 
bring  to  Him  alone  thy  offerings  which  come  from  thy 
labors.” 

—14— 

Issa  denied  the  Trimurti  and  the  incarnation  of 
Para-Brahma  in  Vishnu,  Shiva  and  other  gods;  for  he 
said: 


— 15~ 

“ The  Eternal  Judge,  the  Eternal  Spirit  composes 
the  one  individual  soul  of  the  universe,  which  alone 
creates,  contains  and  vivifies  the  whole.” 

— 16 — 

“ It  is  He  alone  who  has  willed  and  created,  who 


68 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHTIST. 

exists  from  eternity,  whose  existence  will  have  no  end; 
there  is  none  equal  to  Him  either  in  heaven  or  on  earth/' 

—17— 

“ The  great  Creator  has  shared  His  power  with  no 
one,  still  less  with  inanimate  objects,  as  they  have 
taught  you,  for  He  alone  possesses  all  power.” 

— 18 — 

“ He  willed  and  the  world  appeared;  by  one  divine 
thought  He  united  the  waters  and  separated  from  them 
the  dry  part  of  the  globe.  He  is  the  cause  of  the  mys- 
terious life  of  man,  into  whom  He  has  breathed  a part 
of  His  own.” 

—19— 

“ He  has  subordinated  to  man  the  land,  the  water, 
the  beasts  and  all  that  He  has  created,  and  which  He 
Himself  preserves  in  an  unchangeable  order  by  fixing 
the  proper  duration  of  each.” 

— 20— 

“ The  anger  of  God  will  soon  fall  on  man,  for  he 
has  forgotten  his  Creator;  he  has  filled  His  temples 
with  abominations,  and  he  adores  numerous  creatures 
which  God  has  subordinated  to  him.” 

— 21 — 

“ For,  in  order  to  please  stones  and  metals,  he  sac- 
rifices human  beings,  in  whom  dwells  a part  of  the 
spirit  of  God.” 

— 22 — 

“ For  he  humiliates  those  who  toil  by  the  sweat  of 
their  brow  to  gain  the  favor  of  the  idle,  who  sit  at 
sumptuously  furnished  tables.” 

—23— 

“ Those  who  deprive  their  brothers  of  the  divine 
gift  shall  be  deprived  of  it  themselves,  and  the  Brah- 
mins and  the  Kshatriyas  will  become  Shudras  of  the 
Shudras,  with  whom  the  Eternal  will  dwell  forever.” 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 


69 


—24— 

“ Because  on  the  day  of  the  last  Judgment,  the  Shu- 
dras  and  the  Vaishyas  shall  be  pardoned  on  account  of 
their  ignorance;  on  the  other  hand,  God  will  pour  His 
wrath  upon  those  who  have  arrogated  His  rights.” 

—25— 

“ The  Vaishyas  and  the  Shudras  greatly  admired 
these  words  of  Issa,  and  begged  him  to  teach  them  how 
to  pray,  so  that  they  might  secure  their  happiness.” 

— 26 — 

He  said  to  them:  “ Do  not  worship  idols,  for  they 
do  not  hear  you;  do  not  listen  to  the  Vedas,  in  which 
the  truth  is  perverted;  do  not  believe  yourselves  su- 
perior to  others  everywhere;  do  not  humiliate  your 
neighbor.” 

—27— 

“Help  the  poor,  sustain  the  feeble;  do  no  evil  to 
anyone;  do  not  covet  what  others  possess  and  you  do 
not.” 


VI. 

— I — 

The  white  priests  and  the  warriors  having  learnt  of 
the  discourse  which  Issa  had  addressed  to  the  Shudras, 
determined  upon  his  death,  and  with  this  intention  sent 
their  servants  to  search  for  the  young  prophet. 

— 2 — 

But  Issa,  warned  of  the  danger  by  the  Shudras,  left 
Jagannath  by  night,  reached  the  mountains,  and  estab- 
lished himself  in  the  country  of  the  Gautamides,  where 
the  great  Buddha  Shakya-Muni  was  born,  amidst  the 
people  who  worshiped  the  one  and  only  sublime 
Brahma. 


70  THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

— 3— 

Having  learned  perfectly  the  Pali  language,  the 
just  Issa  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  the  sacred 
rolls  of  the  Sutras. 

—4~ 

Six  years  afterwards,  Issa,  whom  the  Buddha  had 
chosen  to  spread  the  holy  doctrine,  was  able  to  explain 
perfectly  the  sacred  rolls. 

— 5— 

Then  he  left  Nepal  and  the  Himalaya  mountains, 
descended  into  the  valley  of  Rajputana  and  journeyed 
toward  the  west,  preaching  to  various  peoples  the  pos- 
sibility of  man's  attaining  the  supreme  perfection, 

— 6 — 

And  the  good  which  each  one  should  do  to  his 
neighbor,  which  is  the  surest  means  of  being  quickly 
absorbed  into  the  Eternal  Spirit;  “he  who  had  recov- 
ered his  primitive  purity,”  Issa  said,  “would  die  having, 
obtained  pardon  for  his  sins,  and  the  right  to  contem- 
plate the  majestic  figure  of  God.” 

— 7— 

In  traversing  the  heathen  territories  the  divine  Issa 
taught  that  the  worship  of  visible  gods  was  contrary  to 
natural  law. 

— 8— 

“ For  man,”  he  said,  “has  not  been  favored  with 
the  power  to  see  the  image  of  God  and  to  construct  a 
host  of  divinities  resembling  the  Eternal  One.” 

— 9- 

“ Besides,  it  is  incompatible  with  the  human  con- 
science to  esteem  the  grandeur  of  divine  purity  less 
than  animals  or  works  executed  by  the  hand  of  man  in 
stone  or  metal.” 

— 10 — 

“The  Eternal  Legislator  is  one  infinite;  there  are 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  71 

no  other  gods  but  Him,  He  has  not  shared  the  world 
with  anyone,  nor  has  He  informed  anyone  of  His 
intentions.” 

— II  — 

“Just  as  a father  would  act  toward  his  children,  so 
shall  God  judge  men  after  their  death  according  to  His 
merciful  laws;  never  will  He  humiliate  His  child  by 
making  his  soul  migrate  into  the  body  of  a beast  as  in 
purgatory.” 

— 12 — 

“The  celestial  law,”  said  the  Creator  through  the 
mouth  of  Issa,  “scorns  the  immolation  of  human  beings 
to  a statue  or  to  an  animal,  for  I have  dedicated 
to  the  use  of  man  all  animals  and  all  that  the  world 
contains.” 

— 13— 

“All  has  been  given  to  man  who  is  thus  directly 
and  intimately  bound  to  me  his  Father;  he  who  has 
taken  away  my  child  will  be  severely  judged  and 
chastised  by  the  divine  law.” 

— 14— 

“ To  the  Eternal  Judge  man  is  nil,  just  as  an  animal 
is  to  a man.” 

— 15— 

“ Therefore  I say  unto  you,  leave  your  idols,  do 
not  perform  ceremonies  that  separate  you  from  your 
Father,  and  link  and  bind  you  to  priests  against  whom 
Heaven  is  turned.” 

— 16— 

“ For  it  is  they  who  have  led  you  astray  from  the 
true  God  and  whose  superstitions  and  cruelty  are  lead- 
ing  you  to  the  perversion  of  spirit  and  to  the  loss  of  all 
moral  sense.” 


72 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

VII. 


— I — 

The  words  of  Issa  were  spread  abroad  among  the 
heathen  in  the  countries  through  which  he  traveled  and 
the  people  abandoned  their  idols. 

Seeing  this  the  priests  demanded  from  him  who 
glorified  the  name  of  the  true  God,  proofs  of  the  re- 
proaches that  he  had  heaped  upon  them  and  the 
demonstration  of  the  powerlessness  of  their  idols,  in 
the  presence  of  the  people. 

— 3— 

And  Issa  replied  to  them:  “If  your  idols  and 
animals  are  powerful  and  really  possess  a supernatural 
power,  let  them  annihilate  me  on  the  spot.” 

— 4 — 

“ Perform  a miracle,”  the  priests  answered  him, 
“and  let  thy  God  confound  ours  if  they  inspire  him 
with  disgust.” 

-5— 

But  Issa  answered:  “ The  miracles  of  our  God  be- 
gan with  the  creation  of  the  universe,  they  take  place 
now  every  day,  every  moment,  and  whosoever  does  not 
see  them  is  deprived  of  one  of  the  most  beautiful  gifts 


“ And  it  is  not  upon  pieces  of  inanimate  stone 
or  metal  or  wood  that  the  anger  of  God  will  fall,  but  it 
will  fall  upon  men,  who  must  for  their  own  safety  de- 
stroy all  the  idols  which  they  have  made:” 

_7__ 

“ Just  as  a stone  and  grain  of  sand  which  are  as 
nothing  before  men,  wait  with  resignation  the  time 
when  he  will  utilize  and  make  of  them  something  useful 
and  beautiful,” 


The  Carriers  of  M.  Notovitch. — See  page  41 


74  the  unknown  life  of  JESUS  CHRIST. 

— 8— 

“Just  so  man  must  wait  for  the  great  favor  which 
God  will  accord  him  in  honoring  him  with  a decision.” 

~9~ 

“ But  alas  for  you,  opponents  of  men!  if  it  is  not 
the  favor  but  the  wrath  of  Divinity  that  you  await; 
woe  unto  you  if  you  wait  for  Him  to  show  His  power 
by  miracles!” 

— 10 — 

“For  it  is  not  the  idols  which  He  shall  destroy  in  His 
wrath,  but  those  who  have  erected  them;  their  hearts 
shall  be  a prey  to  an  eternal  fire  and  their  lacerated 
bodies  will  be  given  to  satisfy  the  appetite  of  wild 
beasts.” 

— II — 

“ God  will  expel  the  contaminated  animals  from 
His  flocks  but  He  will  take  back  to  Himself  those  who 
were  misled  by  having  misunderstood  the  celestial 
spark  which  dwelt  in  them.” 

— 12 — 

Seeing  the  powerlessness  of  their  priests  these  peo- 
ple believed  in  the  teachings  of  Issa  and  adopted  his 
faith  and  in  fear  of  the  anger  of  the  Divinity  broke 
their  idols  in  pieces;  seeing  this  the  priests  fled  to  es- 
cape the  popular  vengeance. 

— 13— 

And  Issa  taught  the  heathen  not  to  try  to  see  the 
Eternal  Spirit  with  their  own  eyes,  but  rather  to  feel  it 
with  their  heart  and  by  a soul  truly  pure  render  them- 
selves worthy  of  His  favors. 

— 14— 

He  said  to  them:  “ Not  only  must  you  desist 
from  making  human  sacrifices,  but  in  general  from  sac- 
rificing any  animal  to  which  life  has  been  given,  for  all 
that  has  been  created  is  for  the  benefit  of  man.” 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  75 

— 15- 

“ Steal  not  the  property  of  another,  for  this  would 
be  taking  away  from  your  neighbor  the  things  which  he 
has  acquired  by  the  sweat  of  his  brow.” 

— 16- 

“ Deceive  not  any  one,  thus  you  shall  not  be  de- 
ceived yourselves;  try  to  justify  yourselves  before  the 
last  judgment,  for  then  it  will  be  too  late.” 

-17— 

“ Do  not  give  yourselves  up  to  debauchery,  for  that 
is  violating  the  laws  of  God.” 

— 18 — 

“ Supreme  happiness  shall  be  attained  not  only  by 
purifying  yourselves,  but  also  by  guiding  others  in 
the  way  which  will  achieve  for  them  the  primitive 
perfection.” 


VIII. 

The  neighboring  countries  were  filled  with  the  re- 
nown of  the  teachings  of  Issa,  and  when  he  entered 
Persia  the  priests  became  alarmed  and  forbade  the 
people  to  listen  to  him. 

— 2 — 

But  when  they  saw  all  the  villages  greeting  him  with 
joy  and  piously  listening  to  his  sermons,  they  caused 
him  to  be  arrested  and  brought  before  the  high  priest 
where  he  was  submitted  to  the  following  questions. 

“ Of  what  new  God  dost  thou  teach?  Dost  thou  not 
know,  unfortunate  one  that  thou  art,  that  the  holy 
Zoroaster  is  the  only  just  man  admitted  to  the  honor 
of  receiving  communications  from  the  Superme  Being?’' 


76  THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

— 4— 

“ He  has  ordered  the  angels  to  record  in  writing  the 
words  of  God  for  the  use  of  his  people — the  laws  that 
were  given  to  Zoroaster  in  paradise.” 

— 5— 

“Who  then  art  thou  that  darest  to  blaspheme  our  God 
and  sow  doubt  in  the  hearts  of  believers?  ” 

— 6— 

And  Issa  said  unto  them:  “ I do  not  speak  of  a new 
God,  but  of  our  Heavenly  Father  who  existed  before 
the  beginning  and  who  will  exist  after  the  eternal  end.” 

— 7— 

“ It  is  of  Him  that  I have  taught  the  people,  who 
like  an  innocent  child  cannot  yet  understand  God  by 
the  only  force  of  their  intelligence  and  penetrate  His 
divine  and  spiritual  sublimity.” 

— 8— 

“ But  as  a new-born  child  recognizes  in  the  dark  its 
mother’s  breast,  just  so  your  people  who  have  been  led 
in  error  by  your  erroneous  doctrine  and  religious  cere- 
monies have  recognized  instinctively  their  Father  in 
the  God,  of  whom  I am  the  prophet.” 

— 9— 

“ The  Eternal  Being  says  to  your  people  through  the 
medium  of  my  mouth:  ‘You  should  not  worship  the 
sun  for  it  is  only  a part  of  the  world  which  I have 
created  for  man.’  ” 

— 10 — 

“ ‘The  sun  rises  in  order  to  warm  you  during  your 
labors ; it  sets  so  as  to  give  you  rest  which  I have  fixed.’  ” 

— II — 

“ ‘It  is  only  to  me  and  to  me  alone  that  you  owe  all 
that  you  possess,  all  that  surrounds  you,  either  above 
or  below,’  ” 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  77 

— 12 — 

'‘But/'  began  the  priests,  “how  could  a people  live 
according  to  the  laws  of  justice,  if  they  had  no  teachers  ?" 

— 13— 

Issa  answered:  “As  long  as  the  people  had  no 
priests,  they  were  governed  by  natural  laws  and  pre- 
served the  candour  of  their  souls.” 

—14— 

“Their  souls  were  in  God  and  when  they  wanted  to 
communicate  with  the  Father  they  did  not  have  recourse 
to  the  mediation  of  an  idol,  an  animal  or  a fire  as  you 
practise  here.” 

—15— 

“You  pretend  that  one  must  worship  the  sun,  the 
spirit  of  good  and  of  evil;  well,  I say  to  you  that  your 
doctrine  is  detestible.  The  sun  does  not  act  spon- 
taneously, but  by  the  will  of  the  invisible  God  who  has 
created  it,” 

— 16 — 

“And  who  has  willed  that  this  star  should  light  the 
day  and  should  warm  the  labor  and  the  crops  of  man.” 

— 17— 

“The  eternal  spirit  is  the  soul  of  all  that  it  animates. 
You  commit  a great  sin  in  dividing  Him  into  the  spirit 
of  evil  and  that  of  good,  for  there  is  no  God  except 
that  of  good,” 

— 18 — 

“Who  like  unto  the  father  of  a family  does  only  good 
to  his  children,  whose  faults  he  forgives  if  they  repent 
of  them.” 

—19— 

“And  the  evil  spirit  dwells  upon  the  earth  in  the 
Aeart  of  those  men  who  turn  the  children  of  God  from 
the  right  path.” 


78 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 


— 20 — 

'‘Therefore  I say  unto  you:  Fear  the  judgement  day 
for  God  will  inflict  a terrible  punishment  upon  those 
who  have  forced  His  children  to  deviate  from  the  true 
light  and  who  have  filled  them  with  superstition  and 
prejudice,” 

— 21 — 

“Upon  those  who  have  blinded  the  seeing,  carried 
contagion  to  the  strong,  and  taught  the  worship  of  those 
things  which  God  has  given  to  man  for  his  own  good 
and  to  aid  him  in  his  labors.” 

— 22 — 

“Your  doctrine  is  therefore  the  fruit  of  your  error, 
for  in  desiring  to  approach  the  God  of  truth  you  have 
created  for  yourselves  false  gods.” 

—23— 

After  having  listened  to  him  the  priests  resolved  to 
do  no  evil  to  him,  but  during  the  night  while  all  in  the 
city  slept,  they  led  him  outside  the  walls  and  there  left 
him  to  his  fate  upon  the  highway  in  the  hope  that  he 
would  soon  become  the  prey  of  wild  beasts. 

—24— 

But  protected  by  our  God,  Saint  Issa  continued  his 
way  unharmed. 


IX. 

Issa,  whom  the  Creator  had  chosen  to  bring  back 
the  true  God  to  men  plunged  in  sin,  was  twenty-nine 
years  old  when  he  arrived  in  the  land  of  Israel. 

— 2 — 

Since  the  departure  of  Issa  the  heathen  had  caused 
the  Israelites  to  endure  still  more  atrocious  sufferings, 
and  they  were  now  a prey  to  the  greatest  dispa*»' 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 


79 


— 3— 

Many  among  them  had  already  abandoned  the 
laws  of  their  God  and  those  of  Moses,  hoping  to  soften 
their  fierce  conquerors. 

— 4 — 

In  the  presence  of  this  situation  Issa  exhorted  his 
countrymen  not  to  dispair  because  the  day  of  redemp- 
tion of  sins  was  near,  and  he  strengthened  their  belief 
in  the  God  of  their  fathers. 

_5_ 

“ Children,  do  not  give  yourselves  up  to  dispair,’' 
said  the  Heavenly  Father  by  the  mouth  of  Issa,  “ for  I 
have  heard  your  voice  and  your  cries  have  reached  even 
unto  me.” 

— 6— 

‘‘  Do  not  weep,  O my  beloved,  for  your  cries  have 
touched  the  heart  of  your  Heavenly  Father,  and  He  has 
forgiven  you  as  He  forgave  your  ancestors.” 

—7^ 

“ Do  not  forsake  your  family  to  plunge  yourselves 
into  iniquity,  lose  not  the  nobility  of  your  feelings,  and 
worship  not  idols  which  will  remain  deaf  to  your  voice.” 

— 8— 

“ Fill  my  temple  with  your  hope  and  your  patience 
and  do  not  abjure  the  religion  of  your  fathers,  for  I alone 
have  guided  them  and  heaped  favors  on  them.” 

— 9— 

“You  shall  raise  those  who  have  fallen,  you  shall 
give  food  to  those  that  are  hungry,  and  you  shall  help 
the  sick  that  you  may  be  pure  and  just  at  the  day  of 
judgment  which  I am  preparing  for  you.” 

— 10 — 

The  Israelites  came  in  throngs  to  hear  the  words  oi 
Issa,  and  asked  him  where  they  should  praise  their 
Heavenly  Father,  since  the  enemy  had  rased  their  tern 


8o  I'HE  unknown  life  of  JESUS  CHRIST 

pies  to  the  ground  and  lain  profane  hands  on  their 
sacred  vessels. 

— II — 

Issa  answered  them  that  God  had  no  reference  to 
temples  built  by  the  hand  of  man,  but  that  He  meant 
the  hearts  of  men  which  are  the  true  temples  of  God. 

— 12 — 

“ Enter  into  your  temple,  into  your  heart,  enlighten 
it  with  good  thoughts,  with  patience  and  with  firm  con- 
fidence which  you  should  place  in  your  Father.” 

— 13— 

“And  your  sacred  vessels,  these  are  your  heads  and. 
eyes;  see  and  do  that  which  is  pleasing  to  God,  for  in 
doing  good  to  your  neighbor  you  perform  a ceremony 
which  beautifies  the  temple  where  He  lives  who  has 
given  you  life.” 

—14— 

“ For  God  has  created  you  in  His  own  image  inno- 
cent, with  the  soul  pure,  the  heart  filled  with  kindness, 
and  not  intended  for  the  conception  of  evil  schemes, 
but  made  to  be  the  sanctuary  of  love  and  justice.” 

— 15— 

“ Do  not  therefore  defile  your  heart,  I say  unto 
you,  for  the  Eternal  Being  dwells  there  always.” 

— 16 — 

“ If  you  wish  to  accomplish  works  of  piety  or  love, 
do  them  with  an  open  heart  and  let  not  your  action  be 
governed  by  hope  of  gain  or  mercenary  thoughts.” 

— 17— 

“ For  these  actions  will  not  bring  you  salvation  and 
you  will  then  fall  into  a state  of  moral  degredation 
where  lying,  theft  and  assassination  pass  as  generous 
deeds.” 


The  Shaky  Bridge  of  Kashmir. — See  page  41 


82  THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

X. 

— I— 

Holy  Issa  went  from  one  city  to  another,  confirm- 
ing with  the  word  of  God  the  courage  of  the  Israelites 
who  were  ready  to  seccumb  under  the  weight  of  despair, 
and  thousands  of  men  followed  to  hear  his  teachings. 

— 2 — 

But  the  rulers  of  the  cities  feared  him  and  informed 
the  principal  Governor  who  dwelt  at  Jerusalem  that  a 
man  called  Issa  had  arrived  in  the  country,  that  by 
his  sermons  he  was  rousing  the  people  against  the 
authorities,  that  the  multitude  listened  to  him  eagerly 
and  neglected  the  works  of  the  state,  stating  that  in  a 
short  time  it  would  be  rid  of  its  ruling  intruders. 

— 3— 

Then  Pilate,  the  governor  of  Jerusalem,  ordered 
them  to  seize  the  person  of  the  preacher  Issa,  bring 
him  into  the  city  and  lead  him  before  the  judges;  but 
so  as  to  not  excite  discontent  among  the  people,  Pilate 
ordered  the  priests  and  the  wise  men,  aged  Hebrews, 
to  judge  him  in  the  temple. 

—4— 

Meanwhile,  Issa  continuing  his  preaching  came  to 
Jerusalem;  having  learned  of  his  arrival,  all  the  inhabit- 
ants who  knew  him  already  by  reputation  went  to  meet 
and  greet  him. 

— 5— 

They  saluted  him  respectfully  and  opened  the  doors 
of  their  temple  to  him  in  order  to  hear  from  his  lips 
what  he  had  said  in  the  other  towns  of  Israel. 

— 6 — 

And  Issa  said  unto  them:  “The  human  race  is  per- 
ishing because  of  its  lack  of  faith,  for  the  darkness  and 
the  tempest  have  confused  the  flock  of  mankind  and 
^hey  have  lost  their  shepherd.” 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  8^ 

— 7— 

“But  the  tempest  will  not  last  forever,  the  darknesw 
will  not  hide  the  light  forever,  the  heavens  will  soon 
become  serene,  the  heavenly  brightness  will  soon  spread 
over  the  whole  earth  and  the  wandering  flocks  will 
gather  themselves  around  their  shepherd.” 

— 8— 

“Do  not  try  to  seek  for  the  direct  roads  in  darkness 
for  fear  of  falling  in  a ditch,  but  gather  together  your 
lost  forces,  aid  each  other,  place  all  your  confidence  in 
your  God  and  wait  till  the  first  light  appears.” 

— 9— 

“He  who  aids  his  neighbor  aids  himself  and  whoever 
protects  his  own  family  protects  his  people  and  his 
country.” 

— 10 — 

“For  be  sure  that  the  day  is  near  when  you  will  be 
delivered  from  darkness;  you  shall  gather  yourselves 
together  in  one  family  and  your  enemy  who  ignores  the 
favor  of  the  great  God  shall  tremble  in  fear.” 

— II — 

The  priests  and  the  elders  who  listened  to  him,  full 
of  wonder  at  his  words,  asked  him  if  it  was  true  that  he 
had  tried  to  arouse  the  people  against  the  authorities  of 
the  country  as  had  been  reported  to  Governor  Pilate. 

— 12 — 

“Can  one  rise  against  misled  men  to  whom  darkness 
has  hidden  the  way  and  the  door?”  answered  Issa.  “I 
have  only  warned  the  unfortunate  as  I do  here  in  this 
temple  so  that  they  may  not  advance  further  on  dark 
roads,  for  an  abyss  is  open  at  their  feet.” 

— 13— 

“Earthly  power  is  not  of  long  duration  and  it  is  sub- 
ject to  many  changes.  It  would  be  of  no  use  for  a man 
to  revolt  against  it,  for  one  power  always  succeeds 


84  'I'HE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

another  and  it  will  thus  be  until  the  extinction  of 
humanity.” 

—14— 

‘‘On  the  contrary  do  you  not  see  that  the  powerful  and 
the  rich  sow  among  the  sons  of  Israel  a spirit  of  rebel- 
lion against  the  eternal  power  of  Heaven?” 

—15— 

And  then  the  elders  said:  “Who  art  thou  and  from 
what  country  art  thou  come  even  unto  us?  Heretofore 
we  have  not  heard  thee  spoken  of,  and  we  are  even 
ignorant  of  thy  name.” 

— 16 — 

“I  am  an  Israelite,”  answered  Issa,  “and  on  the  day 
of  my  birth  I saw  the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  and  heard  the 
wailings  of  my  brothers  reduced  to  slavery  and  the 
lamentations  of  my  sisters  carried  away  among  the 
heathen.” 

: —17— 

“And  my  soul  was  painfully  grieved  when  I saw  that 
my  brothers  had  forgotten  the  true  God;  while  yet  a 
child  I left  my  father’s  house  to  go  and  settle  among 
other  nations.” 

—18— 

“But  hearing  that  my  brothers  suffered  still  greater 
torturers  I returned  to  the  country  where  my  parents 
dwelt,  to  recall  my  brothers  to  the  faith  of  their  an- 
cestors, which  teaches  us  patience  upon  earth  so  that  we 
may  obtain  perfect  and  sublime  happiness  above.” 

—19— 

And  the  learned  elders  asked  him  this  question: 
“They  claim  that  thou  deniest  the  laws  of  Mossa  and 
that  thou  teachest  the  people  to  abandon  the  temple  of 
God?” 


— 20 — 

And  Issa  answered:  “We  do  not  demolish  what  has 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  85 

been  given  by  our  heavenly  Father  and  what  has  been 
destroyed  by  sinners,  but  I have  advised  them  to  purify 
their  heart  of  every  stain,  for  there  is  the  true  temple  of 
God.” 

— 21  — 

“As  for  the  laws  of  Mossa  I have  tried  to  re-establish 
them  in  the  heart  of  men,  but  I tell  you  that  you  do  not 
understand  their  true  meaning,  for  it  is  not  vengeance, 
but  pardon  that  they  teach  ; only  the  sense  of  these  laws 
has  been  perverted.” 


XI. 

Having  heard  Issa,  the  priests  and  the  learned  elders 
decided  among  themselves  not  to  judge  him  for  he  did 
no  evil  to  anyone,  and  presenting  themselves  before 
Pilate,  the  Governor  of  Jerusalem,  chosen  by  the  heathen 
King  of  the  country  of  Romulus,  they  addressed  him 
thus: 

— 2 — 

“We  have  seen  the  man  whom  thou  accusest  of  ex- 
citing our  people  to  revolt,  we  have  heard  his  teachings 
and  we  know  that  he  is  our  fellow-countryman.' 

— 3— 

“But  the  rulers  of  the  towns  have  sent  thee  false  re- 
ports, for  he  is  a just  man  who  teaches  the  people  the 
word  of  God.  After  having  questioned  him  we  let  him 
go  in  peace.” 

— 4— 

The  Governor  became  violently  enraged  and  sent  his 
servants  in  disguise  to  spy  after  Issa  and  to  report  to 
the  authorities  every  word  that  he  addressed  to  the 
people. 


SG  THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

__5__ 

The  holy  Issa  continued,  however,  to  visit  the 
neighboring  towns  and  preach  the  true  ways  of  the 
Creator,  exhorting  the  Hebrews  to  patience  and  prom- 
ising them  a speedy  deliverance. 

— 6 — 

During  all  this  time  many  people  followed  him 
wherever  he  went;  many  did  not  quit  him,  but  they 
served  him  as  servants. 

— 7— 

And  Issa  said:  “Do  not  believe  in  miracles  per- 
formed by  the  hand  of  man,  for  He  who  commands  na- 
ture is  alone  able  to  perform  supernatural  things,  while 
man  is  powerless  to  soften  the  rage  of  winds  and  to 
distribute  rain.” 

— 8— 

“There  is  one  miracle,  however,  that  it  is  possible 
for  man  to  perform;  it  is,  when  full  of  sincere  belief,  he 
decides  to  uproot  from  his  heart  all  bad  thoughts,  and 
to  attain  this  end,  he  goes  no  more  into  the  paths  of 
evil.” 

— 9— 

“And  all  the  things  which  are  done  without  God  are 
but  great  errors,  seductions  and  enchantments,  which 
show  only  how  far  the  soul  of  him  who  practices  this 
art  is  full  of  shamelessness,  falsehood  and  impurity,” 

— 10 — 

“ Put  no  faith  in  oracles,  for  God  alone  knows  the 
future;  he  who  has  recourse  to  sorcerers,  defiles  the 
temple  which  is  in  his  heart  and  shows  distrust  for  his 
Creator. 

— 1 1 — 

“ P'aith  in  sorcerers  and  their  oracles  destroys  the 
innate  simplicity  in  man  and  his  child-like  purity;  an 
infernal  power  takes  possession  of  him  and  forces  him 


87 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

to  commit  all  sorts  of  crimes  and  worship  idols;” 

— 12 — 

“ While  the  Lord,  our  God,  who  has  no  equal,  is 
one,  all-powerful,  all-knowing  and  present  everywhere; 
it  is  He  who  alone  possesses  all  wisdom  and  all  light.” 

—13— 

“ It  is  to  Him  that  you  must  pray  for  being  com- 
forted in  your  griefs,  aided  in  your  works,  cured  in  your 
sickness;  whoever  will  have  recourse  to  Him  will  not 
suffer  refusal.” 

—14— 

“ The  secret  of  nature  is  in  the  hands  of  God,  for 
the  world,  before  it  appeared,  existed  in  the  depths  of 
the  Divine  thought;  it  has  become  material  and  visible 
by  the  will  of  the  Most  High.” 

—15— 

“ When  you  would  seek  Him,  become  children,  for 
you  know  neither  the  past,  nor  the  present  nor  the 
future  and  God  is  master  of  time.” 


XII. 

— I — 

“Just  man!”  said  the  disguised  servants  of  the 
Governor  of  Jerusalem,  “ tell  us  whether  we  should  ex- 
ecute the  will  of  our  Caesar  or  await  our  near  deliver- 
ance.” 

And  Issa  having  recognized  in  the  questioners  the 
people  bribed  to  follow  him,  said  to  them:  “I  have 
not  said  that  you  would  be  delivered  from  Caesar;  it  is 
the  soul  which  is  plunged  into  error  that  will  have 
deliverance.” 


88  THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST, 

' — 3— 

“ There  can  be  no  family  without  a head  and  there 
can  be  no  order  among  a people  without  a Caesar  whom 
they  must  obey  blindly,  for  he  alone  shall  answer  for 
his  acts  before  the  supreme  tribunal.” 

— 4— 

“ Does  Caesar  possess  a divine  right,”  the  spies 
again  asked,  “ and  is  he  the  best  of  mortals?” 

— s— 

“ There  is  none  best  am.ong  men,  but  truly  there  are 
some  that  are  sick  whom  chosen  men  charged  with  this 
mission  should  care  for,  by  using  the  means  which  the 
sacred  law  of  our  Heavenly  Father  confers  upon 
them.” 

— 6— 

“ Clemency  and  justice  are  the  highest  gifts  granted 
to  Caesar,  his  name  will  be  illustrious  if  he  holds  to 
them.” 

— 7— 

“ But  he  who  acts  otherwise,  who  transgresses  the 
limits  of  his  power  over  those  under  his  rule,  endanger- 
ing their  life,  offends  the  great  Judge  and  wrongs  His 
dignity  in  the  opinion  of  men.” 

— 8— 

Meanwhile  an  old  woman  who  had  approached  the 
crowd  to  hear  Issa  better  was  pushed  aside  by  one  of 
the  disguised  men  who  placed  himself  before  her. 

— 9— 

Issa  then  said:  “ It  is  not  good  for  a son  to  push 
aside  his  mother  so  that  he  may  occupy  the  front  place 
which  should  be  hers.  Whoever  does  not  respect  his 
mother,  the  most  sacred  being  after  God,  is  unworthy 
of  the  name  of  son.” 

— 10 — 

Listen  to  these  words:  Respect  woman  for  she 


Scene  near  Surghol. — See  page  43. 


go  THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

is  the  mother  of  the  universe  and  the  truth  of  divine 
creation  lies  within  her/ 

— 1 1 — 

She  is  the  foundation  of  all  that  is  good  and 
beautiful,  as  also  the  germ  of  life  and  death.  Upon 
her  depends  the  whole  life  of  man  for  she  is  his  moral 
and  natural  support  in  his  labors.” 

— 12 — 

“She  gives  birth  to  you  amid  suffering;  by  the 
sweat  of  her  brow  she  attends  your  growth  and  until 
her  death  you  cause  her  the  greatest  anxiety.  Bless 
her  and  adore  her,  for  she  is  your  only  friend  and  sup- 
port upon  earth.” 

— 13— 

“ Respect  and  defend  her;  in  acting  thus  you  will 
win  her  love  and  her  heart,  and  you  will  please  God, 
and  many  of  your  sins  will  be  forgiven.” 

— 14— 

“Therefore,  love  your  wives  and  respect  them,  for 
they  will  be  mothers  to-morrow,  and  later  elders  of  a 
whole  nation.” 

— 15— 

“ Be  submissive  to  your  wife;  her  love  ennobles  a 
man,  softens  his  hardened  heart,  tames  the  beast  and 
makes  a lamb  of  it.” 

— 16 — 

“ Wife  and  mother  are  inestimable  treasures  be- 
stowed of  God;  they  are  the  most  beautiful  ornaments 
of  the  universe,  and  of  them  will  be  born  all  who  shall 
inhabit  the  world.” 

— 17— 

“Just  as  the  God  of  armies  formerly  separated  the 
light  from  earkness  and  the  land  from  waters,  so  woman 
possesses  the  divine  talent  to  separate  the  good  from 
evil  intentions  in  man.” 


91 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

— 18 

“ Therefore  I say  unto  you,  after  God  your  best 
thoughts  should  belong  unto  women  and  to  your  wives; 
she  is  the  divine  temple  where  you  will  obtain  easily 
perfect  happiness.” 

— 19— 

“ Draw  from  this  temple  your  moral  force;  there 
you  will  forget  your  troubles  and  your  failures;  ther^ 
you  will  recover  your  wasted  forces  which  are  necessary 
in  helping  your  neighbors.” 

— 20 — 

Do  not  expose  her  to  humiliations,  for  thereby 
you  humiliate  yourself  and  lose  the  sentiment  of  love, 
without  which  nothing  exists  here  below.” 

— 21 — 

“ Protect  your  wife  that  she  may  protect  you  and 
all  your  family;  all  that  you  will  do  for  yonr  mother, 
your  wife,  for  a widow  or  another  woman  in  distress, 
you  shall  have  done  for  your  God.” 


XIII. 

Holy  Issa  thus  taught  the  people  of  Israel  for  three 
years  in  every  town  and  village,  on  the  highways  and 
on  the  plains,  and  all  that  he  predicted  was  realized. 

— 2 — 

During  all  this  time  the  disguised  servants  of  the 
Governor  Pilate  observed  him  elosely  without  hearing 
anything  resembling  the  reports  formerly  made  against 
Issa  by  the  rulers  of  the  towns. 

— 3— 

But  the  Governor  Pilate,  fearing  the  great  popu- 
larity of  the  Saint  Issa,  whom  his  opponents  believed  tq 


92  THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

be  inciting  the  people  to  have  himself  chosen  for  king, 
ordered  one  of  his  spies  to  accuse  him. 

— 4— 

Then  he  ordered  the  soldiers  to  proceed  to  arrest 
him,  and  they  imprisoned  him  in  a dungeon,  where  they 
caused  him  to  endure  various  torments,  hoping  thereby 
to  force  him  to  accuse  himself,  which  would  permit 
them  to  put  him  to  death. 

— 5 — 

The  Saint,  desiring  only  the  perfect  happiness  of 
His  brothers,  endured  these  torments  in  the  name  of  his 
Creator. 

— 6 — 

The  servants  of  Pilate  continued  torturing  him,  re- 
ducing him  to  a state  of  extreme  weakness;  but  God 
was  with  him  and  did  not  suffer  him  to  die. 

Learning  of  the  sufferings  and  tortures  which  their 
Saint  endured,  the  principal  priests  and  wise  elders  re- 
quested the  Governor  to  set  Issa  free  on  the  occasion  of 
a great  feast  which  was  near  at  hand. 

— 8— 

But  the  Governor  refused  them  decidedly.  They 
asked  him  then  to  have  Issa  appear  before  the  tribunal 
of  the  elders  in  order  that  he  might  be  condemned  or 
acquitted  before  the  feast;  Pilate  consented  to  this. 

— 9— 

The  next  day  the  Governor  called  together  the 
principal  captains,  priests,  wise  elders  and  legislators 
for  the  purpose  of  having  them  judge  Issa. 

— 10 — 

They  brought  the  Saint  from  his  prison,  and  seated 
him  before  the  Governor  between  two  robbers,  who  were 
then  on  trial,  and  to  show  the  people  that  he  was  not 
the  only  one  to  be  condemned. 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  93 

— I I — 

And  Pilate,  addressing  Issa,  said:  “Oman!  is  it 
true  that  thou  dost  incite  the  people  against  the  author- 
ities with  the  intention  of  becoming  the  king  of  Israel 
thyself?” 

— 12 — 

“ One  does  not  become  king  by  his  own  will,”  an- 
swered Issa,  “ and  they  have  spoken  falsely  to  you  in 
asserting  that  I was  inciting  the  people.  I have  never 
spoken  but  of  the  King  of  Heaven,  and  it  is  He  whom 
I taught  the  people  to  worship.” 

— 13— 

“ For  the  sons  of  Israel  have  lost  their  original 
purity,  and  if  they  do  not  have  recourse  to  the  true  God 
they  will  be  sacrificed  and  their  temple  will  fall  in  ruin.” 

—14— 

“Temporal  power  maintains  order  in  a country;  I 
have  therefore  taught  them  not  to  forget  it;  I said  to 
them:  ‘ Live  according  to  your  position  and  fortune,  so 
as  not  to  disturb  public  order;'  and  I exhorted  them  also 
to  remember  that  disorder  reigned  in  their  heart  and  in 
their  soul.”, 

—15— 

“ Thus  the  King  of  Heaven  has  punished  them  and 
suppressed  their  national  kings.  Nevertheless  I said  to 
them:  ‘ If  you  resign  yourselves  to  your  fate,  the  King- 
dom of  Heaven  will  be  reserved  to  you  as  a reward.' ' 

— 16 — 

At  this  moment  the  witnesses  were  introduced,  one 
of  whom  testified,  saying:  “Thou  hast  taught  the  peo- 
ple that  the  temporal  power  was  nothing  before  that  of 
the  king  who  would  soon  free  the  Israelites  from  the 
heathen  yoke.” 

—17— 

“ Blessed  be  thou,”  said  Issa,  “ for  having  told  the 


94  the  unknown  life  of  JESUS  CHRIST. 

truth;  the  King  of  Heaven  is  greater  and  more  power- 
ful than  terrestial  law,  and  His  Kingdom  surpasses  all 
kingdoms  here  below.” 

— 18 — 

“And  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  conformably 
to  the  Divine  will,  the  people  of  Israel  shall  purify 
themselves  of  their  sins,  for  it  is  said  that  a precusor 
shall  come  and  announce  the  deliverance  of  the  people 
and  unite  them  in  one  family.” 

— IQ— 

And  the  Governor  addressing  the  judges,  said: 
“ Do  you  hear  this?  The  Israelite  Issa  acknowledges 
the  crime  of  which  he  is  accused.  Judge  him  then 
according  to  your  laws  and  pronounce  upon  him  capi- 
tal punishment.” 

— 20 — 

“We  cannot  condemn  him;”  answered  the  priests 
and  the  elders,  “ thou  hast  thyself  heard  that  he  alluded 
to  the  King  of  Heaven,  and  that  he  has  preached 
nothing  which  constitutes  insubordination  against  our 
laws.” 

— 21 — 

The  Governor  then  summoned  the  witness  who  at 
the  instignation  of  his  master,  Pilate,  had  betrayed  Issa; 
this  man  came  and  addressing  Issa,  said:  “ Didst  thou 
not  make  thyself  pass  as  king  of  Israel  when  thou  didst 
say  that  He  who  reigns  in  Heaven  had  sent  thee  to  pre- 
pare His  people?” 

— 22 — 

And  Issa  having  blessed  him,  said:  “Thou  shalt 
be  forgiven,  for  what  thou  sayest  cometh  not  from  thee.” 
Then  addressing  the  Govenor  he  said:  “Why  humili- 
ate thy  dignity  and  teach  thy  inferiors  to  live  in  false- 
hood, since  even  without  this  thou  hast  the  power  to 
condemn  an  innocent  person?” 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 


—23— 

At  these  words  the  Governor  became  violently 
enraged  and  ordered  Issa  to  be  condemned  to  death 
and  the  two  robbers  to  be  acquitted. 

—24— 

The  judges  having  consulted  together,  said  to  Pilate : 
“ We  will  not  take  upon  ourselves  the  great  sin  of  con- 
demning an  innocent  man,  and  of  acquitting  robbers, 
which  is  contrary  to  our  laws.” 

—25— 

“ Do,  therefore,  as  thou  pleaseth.”  Having  said 
this  the  priests  and  the  wise  men  went  out  and  washed 
their  hands  in  a sacred  vessel,  saying:  “We  are  inno- 
cent of  the  death  of  this  just  man.” 


XIV. 

By  order  of  the  Governor  the  soldiers  seized  Issa 
and  the  two  robbers  and  led  them  to  a place  of  punish- 
ment and  there  nailed  them  upon  crosses  which  they 
erected. 

— 2 — 

All  day  long  the  bodies  of  Issa  and  the  two  rob- 
bers remained  suspended  dripping  with  blood,  under 
the  guard  of  the  soldiers;  the  people  stood  round 
about  them,  the  relatives  of  the  tortured  praying  and 
weeping. 

— 3— 

At  sunset  the  suffering  of  Issa  ended.  He  lost 
his  consciousness  and  the  soul  of  this  just  man  freed 
itself  from  his  body  to  be  absorbed  in  the  Divinity. 

— 4— 

Thus  ended  the  terrestiai  life  of  the  reflection  of 


g6  THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

the  Eternal  Spirit  in  the  form  of  a man  who  endured  so 
n:uch  suffering,  saving  hardened  sinners. 

—5— 

Pilate,  however,  through  his  own  actions  feared  the 
throng,  and  returned  the  body  of  the  Saint  to  his  rela- 
tives, who  interred  it  near  the  place  of  execution;  the 
people  came  to  pray  at  his  tomb  filling  the  air  with 
weeping  and  wailings. 

— 6 — 

Three  days  afterwards  fearing  a general  uprising, 
the  Governor  sent  soldiers  to  raise  secretly  the  body  of 
Issa  and  bury  it  in  some  other  place. 

— 7— 

The  next  day  the  throng  found  the  tomb  open  and 
empty;  so  that  the  rumor  was  spread  that  the  Supreme 
Judge  had  sent  His  angels  to  carry  away  the  mortal 
remains  of  the  Saint  in  whom  had  dwelt  on  earth  a 
part  of  the  Divine  Spirit. 

— 8— 

When  the  rumor  reached  Pilate  he  was  very  angry 
and  forbade  them  under  penalty  of  slavery  and  death 
ever  to  utter  the  name  of  Issa,  or  to  pray  to  the  Lord 
for  him. 

— 9 — 

But  the  people  continued  to  weep  and  to  glorify 
their  Master  aloud;  so  that  many  of  them  were  led  into 
captivity  and  subjected  to  torture  and  put  to  death. 

— 10— 

Then  many  of  the  disciples  of  the  Holy  Issa  left 
the  country  of  Israel  and  went  among  the  heathen, 
preaching  that  they  must  abandon  their  errors  and 
think  of  the  safety  of  their  souls  and  the  perfect  hapoi- 
ness  awaiting  human  beings  in  the  immaterial 
world  of  light  and  wisdom  wherein  reposes  in  aP  His 
purity  and  perfect  majesty,  the  ureat  Creator. 


A Buddhist  Monastery  in  Ladak 


•See  page  43, 


o8  THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESTS  CHRIST. 

— II  — 

The  heathen,  their  kings  and  their  warriors,  listened 
to  these  preachers,  abandoned  their  absurd  beliefs,  left 
their  priests  and  their  idols  to  celebrate  the  praises  of 
the  very  vvise  Creator  of  the  Universe,  the  King  of 
Kings,  whose  hear!  is  riiied  with  infinite  mercy. 


SaMMARV. 


In  reading  the  preceding  story  of  the  life  of  Issa 
(Jesus  Christ)  we  are  on  the  one  hand  struck  by  the 
resemblance  between  some  of  its  principal  passages  and 
the  biblical  and  evangelical  story  and  on  the  other  hand 
by  the  contradictions  equally  remarkable  which  often 
differentiate  the  Buddhist  version  from  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments. 

To  explain  this  singularity  it  is  necessary  to  take 
into  account  the  times  when  these  facts  were  consigned 
to  writing. 

We  have  been  taught,  it  is  true,  since  our  childhood 
that  the  Pentateuch  was  written  by  Moses,  but  the  care- 
ful investigation  of  contemporary  scholars  have  shown 
conclusively  that  in  the  days  of  Moses  and  even  long 
after  him  there  existed  no  writing  in  those  countries 
whose  shores  were  washed  by  the  Mediterranean,  ex- 
cept the  Egyptian  hieroglyphics  and  the  cuniform  in- 
scriptions which  are  still  found  in  the  ruins  of  Babylon. 
But  we  know,  on  the  contrary,  that  the  alphabet  and 
parchment  were  known  in  China  and  India  long  before 
Moses.  Of  this  we  have  sufficient  proofs. 

The  sacred  books  of  “ The  Religion  of  Savants” 
teach  us  that  the  alphabet  was  invented  in  China  in 
2800  B.  C.,  by  Fou-si,  who  was  the  first  emperor  of 
China  to  adopt  this  religion;  it  was  he  who  arranged  its 
ritual  and  external  ceremonies.  Yao,  the  fourth  of  the 
Chinese  emperors  who  belonged  to  this  faith,  published 
the  moral  and  civil  laws  and  in  2228  B.  C.  he  framed  a 
penal  code.  The  fifth  emperor,  Soune,  proclaimed  in 


iOO  THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

the  year  of  his  accession  to  the  throne  that  the  Religion 
of  Savants  would  thenceforth  be  the  religion  of  the 
State  and  in  2282  B.  C.,  he  enacted  new  penal  laws. 
His  laws,  modified  by  the  Emperor  Woo  Wang,  founder 
of  the  Chow  dynasty  in  1122,  are  really  known  under 
the  name  of  “ Changes.’' 

On  the  other  hand,  the  doctrine  of  Buddha  Fo 
whose  true  name  was  Shakya  Muni,  was  written  on 
parchment.  Foism  began  to  spread  in  China  about  260 
B.  C.;  in  206  an  emperor  of  the  Tsine  dynasty  desirous 
of  studying  Buddhism  had  invited  a Buddhist  named 
Silifan  from  India,  and  the  Emperor  Ming-Ti  of  the 
Hane  dynasty,  a year  before  the  birth  of  Jesus  Christ, 
procured  from  India  the  sacred  books  written  by  the 
Buddha  Shakya  Muni,  founder  of  the  Buddhist 
doctrine,  who  lived  about  1200  years  before  Jesus 
Christ. 

The  doctrine  of  Buddha  Gautama  or  Gotama,  who 
lived  600  years  B.  C.,  was  written  on  parchment  in  the 
Pali  language.  At  this  time,  there  existed  already  in 
India,  about  84,000  Buddhist  manuscripts  which  had 
been  compiled  for  a great  number  of  years.* 

While  the  Chinese  and  the  Hindus  possessed 
already  a very  rich  written  literature,  among  less  for- 
tunate or  more  ignorant  people  who  had  no  alphabet, 
accounts  were  transmitted  orally  from  generation  to 
generation.  Owing  to  the  untrustworthiness  of  the  hu- 
man memory  and  its  relative  incapacity,  with  Oriental 
fancy  added  to  it,  the  historical  facts  soon  degenerated 

*Buddha  Shakya  Muni  and  Buddha  Gautama  are  really  the 
same.  But  the  Buddhists  believe  that  many  other  Buddhas  pre- 
ceded the  Buddha  who  lived  600  years  before  Jesus.  As  to  the 
year  when  the  Buddha  Shakya  Muni  died,  the  Buddhists  books 
differ  considerably — the  most  distant  periods  mentioned  being  the 
years  2422  and  544  B.  C. — Translator. 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  lOI 

into  fabulous  legends  which  later  on,  were  collected  to- 
gether by  the  unknown  compilers  and  given  to  the 
world  under  the  name  of  the  Five  Books  of  Moses;’' 
legend  also  attributes  to  the  Hebrew  law-giver  an  ex- 
traordinary divine  power  and  credits  him  with  a series 
of  miracles  performed  in  the  presence  of  Pharaoh;  it 
has  even  been  mistaken  in  declaring  that  he  was  an 
Israelite  by  birth. 

The  Hindu  chroniclers,  on  the  contrary,  thanks  to 
the  invention  of  the  alphabet,  have  been  able  to  pre- 
serve not  legends,  but  the  accounts  of  deeds  recently 
performed  or  the  reports  of  merchants  who  had  just 
returned  after  visiting  foreign  countries. 

It  should  be  remembered  here,  that  in  ancient  as 
well  as  in  our  own  times,  all  the  public  life  of  the  Orient 
was  concentrated  in  the  bazaars  where  the  news  from 
foreign  countries  were  propagated  by  caravans  of  mer- 
chants who  were  usually  followed  by  dervishes  whose 
business  it  was  to  recite  new  events  in  public  places  and 
temples  and  thus  obtain  a living.  Soon  after  their  re- 
turn from  a journey  or  from  business  the  merchants 
related  all  that  they  had  seen  or  heard.* 

The  commerce  of  India  with  Egypt  and  afterwards 
with  Europe  passed  through  Jerusalem,  where  even  in 
the  time  of  King  Solomon,  Hindu  caravans  brought 
precious  metals  and  all  materials  for  the  construction  of 
temples.  Merchandise  from  Europe  arrived  at  Jerusa- 
lem by  sea  and  was  unloaded  in  a harbor  which  is  now 
the  site  of  Jaffa.§ 

*From  very  ancient  times  it  has  been  a very  common  practice 
in  the  Orient  for  the  pilgrims  and  travelers  to  compose  in  verses 
the  description  of  the  places  they  visit  and  the  recital  of  events 
that  impress  them;  and  these  little  poems  are  committed  to  mem- 
ory and  often  recited  by  the  people.  There  are  numerous  such 
poems  among  the  Jains. — Translator. 

§I  have  proved  the  antiquity  of  the  Indian  trade  in  my  Intro- 
duction.— T ranslator. 


f02  THF  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

The  chronicles  in  question  were  written  before, 
during  and  after  Jesus  Christ;  but  during  his  sojourn  in 
India,  where  he  went  a,s  a mere  pilgrim  to  study  the 
Brahmin  and  Buddhist  laws,  no  special  attention  was 
given  him.  But  later,  when  the  first  reports  of  these 
events  in  Israel  reached  India,  the  chroniclers  after 
having  consigned  to  writing  all  they  had  heard  about 
the  prophet  Issa  whom  an  oppressed  race  had  followed 
and  who  by  order  of  Pilate  had  been  put  to  death,  re- 
membered that  this  same  Issa  of  Israelite  origin  had 
recently  lived  and  studied  among  them  and  then  re- 
turned to  his  own  country.  Soon  an  interest  was 
created  for  this  man  who  had  so  rapidly  grown  in  im- 
portance in  their  eyes  and  they  immediately  began  to 
inquire  about  his  birth,  his  death  and  all  the  details  of 
his  life. 

The  two  manuscripts  read  to  me  by  the  Lama  of 
the  Himis  monastery  were  collections  of  different 
copies  written  in  the  Thibetan  language — translations 
of  some  rolls  belonging  to  the  Library  of  Lassa  and 
brought  from  India,  Nepal  and  Magadha,  about  200 
years  after  Christ,  to  a convent  standing  on  Mount 
Marbour  near  Lassa  where  the  Dalai  Lama  now 
resides. 

These  rolls  were  written  in  the  Pali  language  which 
certain  Lamas  study  in  order  to  be  able  to  translate 
into  the  Thibetan  dialect. 

The  chroniclers  were  Buddhists  belonging  to  the 
sect  of  Buddha  Gotama.  The  references  relating  to 
Jesus  in  these  chronicles  are  not  put  in  order  but  are 
mixed  up  without  sequence  or  coherence  so  far  as  con- 
temporary events  are  concerned. 

The  manuscript  begins  without  explanation  or  de- 
tail the  accounts  as  they  were  given  by  some  merchants 
who  came  from  Judea  in  the  year  of  the  death  of  Jesus, 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  IO3 

that  a just  man  by  the  name  of  Issa,  an  Israelite,  after 
having  been  twice  acquitted  by  the  judges  as  being  the 
man  of  God,  was  nevertheless  put  to  death  by  the  order 
of  the  heathen  Governor  Pilate,  who  feared  that  Jesus 
would,  by  his  great  popularity,  be  able  to  re-establish 
the  Kingdom  of  Israel  and  expel  those  who  had  con- 
quered it. 

Finally  communications  just  as  incoherent  came  to 
us  about  the  teachings  of  Jesus  among  the  Guebresand 
other  heathens.  These  reports  seem  to  have  been 
brought  in  the  first  year  that  followed  the  death  of 
Jesus  in  whom  they  took  an  interest  still  greater. 

One  of  the  accounts  given  by  a merchant  speaks  of 
the  origin  of  Jesus  and  his  family;  another  relates  the 
expulsion  of  his  partisans  and  the  persecutions  which 
they  endured. 

It  is  only  at  the  end  of  the  second  volume  that  we 
find  the  first  categorical  affirmation  of  the  chronicler 
where  he  says  that  Issa  is  blessed  by  God  and  that  he 
is  the  best  of  all  men,  that  he  is  the  one  in  whom  the 
great  Brahma  had  chosen  to  incarnate  His  spirit  which 
is  separated  from  the  Supreme  Being  at  a period  fixed 
by  fate. 

After  having  said  that  Issa  descended  from  poor  par- 
ents of  Israelite  origin,  the  chronicler  digresses  a little 
with  the  intention  of  explaining,  according  to  old  nar- 
rations, who  the  sons  of  Israel  were.  I have  arranged 
all  the  fragments  concerning  the  life  of  Issa  in  chro- 
nological order,  and  I have  tried  to  give  them  the  char- 
acter of  unity  which  they  totally  lacked. 

I leave  to  scholars,  philosophers  and  theologians  the 
task  of  searching  for  the  causes  of  the  contradictions 
that  may  be  found  between  this  version  of  the  life  of 
Issa  which  I deliver  to  the  public  and  the  accounts  of 
the  Evangelists,  but  I believe  no  one  will  hesitate  to 


104  THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

agree  with  me  that  the  version  which  I present  to  the 
public  recorded  three  or  four  years  after  the  death  of 
Jesus,  according  to  the  statement  of  eye-witnesses  and 
contemporaries,  is  more  likely  to  be  authentic  than  the 
accounts  of  the  Evangelists  who  wrote  at  different 
times  and  so  long  after  the  actual  occurrence  of  the 
events,  that  there  is  no  wonder  if  the  facts  are  miscon- 
strued or  the  sense  is  altered. 

Before  touching  on  the  life  of  Jesus,  I must  say  a few 
words  upon  the  history  of  Moses,  who  according  to  the 
most  accredited  belief  was  an  Israelite.  This  is  con- 
tradicted by  the  Buddhist  records  from  which  we  learn 
that  Moses  was  a prince  of  Egypt,  the  son  of  a Pharaoh' 
arid  that  the  Israelite  scholars  were  employed  merely 
as  his  teachers.  By  carefully  examining  this  important 
point  we  must  admit  that  the  Buddhist  authors  v^ere 
right. 

Having  no  desire  to  destroy  the  biblical  legend  con- 
cerning the  origin  of  Moses,  I believe  that  many  will 
admit  with  me  that  Moses  was  not  a simple  Israelite, 
for  this  appreciable  reason,  that  the  education  which  he 
had  received  was  that  of  the  son  of  a king,  and  it  is 
therefore  difficult  to  believe  that  a child  brought  by 
mere  chance  into  the  palace  should  have  been  placed  on 
equal  standing  with  the  son  of  the  ruling  sovereign  (and 
that  his  education  should  have  been  considered  of  like 
importance).  The  manner  in  which  the  Egyptians 
treated  their  slaves  shows  that  they  were  not  particu- 
larly distinquished  for  generosity  of  character.  A 
foundling  (the  child  of  a slave)  would  certainly  not 
have  been  placed  with  the  children  of  Pharaoh  but 
would  have  been  placed  with  his  servants.  Add  to  this 
the  fact  (and  this  is  preponderating  evidence)  that  the 
spirit  of  caste  was  so  strictly  observed  in  ancient  Egypt. 

On  the  other  hand  it  is  impossible  to  doubt  that 


lyAMiKROO. — See  page  47. 


ro6  THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

Moses  had  received  a complete  education;  without  that 
how  could  we  explain  his  great  work  of  legislation,  his 
large  views  and  his  high  qualities  as  a ruler? 

But  if  he  was  a prince,  why  was  he  attached  to  the 
Israelites?  The  explanation  seems  very  simple  to  me. 
We  know  that  among  the  ancients,  as  in  our  modern 
times,  contentions  existed  between  brothers  as  to  who 
should  succeed  their  father  on  the  throne.  Why  not 
admit  this  hypothesis  that  Moses  had  dreams  of  found- 
ing a distinct  kingdom,  the  fact  that  he  had  an  elder 
brother  preventing  him  from  entertaining  any  hope  of 
ever  coming  to  the  throne  of  Egypt?  It  was  perhaps 
with  this  object  that  he  attached  himself  to  the  Israelites 
whom  he  admired  for  their  firmness  in  their  belief  and 
their  bodily  strength.  We  know  that  the  Israelites  of 
Egypt  did  not  at  all  resemble  their  descendants  physi- 
cally; the  blocks  of  granite  used  in  building  the  palaces 
and  pyramids  stand  there  as  evidence  of  this. 

I explain  in  the  same  manner  the  history  of  the  mira- 
cles which  Moses  might  have  performed  before  Pharaoh. 
Without  bringing  definite  arguments  for  denying  the 
miracles  preformed  before  Pharaoh  in  the  name  of  God, 
you  will  agree,  I think  without  much  difficulty,  that  the 
Buddhist  version  is  more  probable  than  the  bibical  in- 
terpretation. The  small-pox,  plague  or  cholerra  must 
have  caused  enormous  ravages  in  such  an  intensely 
dense  population  at  a time  when  ideas  upon  hygiene 
were  still  rudimentary  and  when  consequently  the  dis- 
ease must  have  assumed  fearful  proportions. 

Moses,  whose  intelligence  was  quick  and  prompt  to 
show  itself,  was  well  able  to  work  on  the  fears  evinced 
by  Pharaoh  before  the  unchained  elements,  by  explain- 
ing to  him  that  it  was  due  to  the  intervention  of  the 
God  of  Israel  in  favor  of  his  chosen  people. 

This  was  the  most  opportune  moment  for  Moses  to 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  IO7 

deliver  the  children  of  Israel  from  bondage  and  of 
bringing  them  under  his  own  domination. 

Conformable  to  the  will  of  Pharaoh,  still  according 
to  the  Buddhists,  Moses  led  the  Israelites  beyond  the 
walls  of  the  city;  but  instead  of  building  a new  city 
near  the  capital  as  he  had  been  ordered  by  Pharaoh,  he 
led  them  out  of  the  Egyptian  territory.  One  can  easily 
understand  the  indignation  of  Pharaoh  upon  learning 
that  Moses  infringed  upon  his  commands,  so  he  ordered 
his  soldiers  to  pursue  the  fugitives.  It  seems,  from  the 
geographical  situation  of  this  region,  that  Moses  must 
have  skirted  the  mountain  in  his  route  and  entered 
Arabia  by  the  Isthmus  now  cut  by  the  Suez  Canal. 
Pharaoh,  on  the  contrary,  led  his  troops  in  a direct  line 
towards  the  Red  Sea,  and  in  order  to  overtake  the 
Israelites,  who  had  already  reached  the  opposite  shore, 
he  wanted  to  take  advantage  of  the  ebb  of  the  sea  into 
the  gulf,  formed  by  the  shores  and  the  isthmus  and 
make  his  soldiers  ford  it.  But  the  distance  across 
the  arm  of  the  sea  at  this  point  was  greater  than  he 
anticipated,  for  the  tide  closed  in  on  the  Egyptian 
army  when  they  were  half  way  across  and  none  of  them 
could  possibly  escape  death. 

This  fact,  so  simple  in  itself,  was  transformed  after 
centuries  into  a religious  legend  among  the  Israelites, 
who  saw  in  it  a divine  intervention  as  a punishment  in- 
flicted by  their  God  upon  their  enemies.  We  think 
that  Moses  himself  entertained  this  belief.  But  that  is 
a thesis  which  I will  undertake  to  develop  in  a future 
work. 

The  Buddhist  chronicle  then  describes  briefly  the 
greatness  and  the  downfall  of  The  kingdom  of  Israel 
and  its  conquest  by  strangers,  who  reduced  its  people 
to  a state  of  servitude. 

The  misfortunes  which  befell  the  Israelites  and  their 


I08  THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

bitter  afflictions  henceforth  were,  according  to  the 
chronicler,  reasons  more  than  sufflcient  for  God  to  take 
pity  on  His  people,  and  desiring  to  come  to  their  rescue. 
He  resolved  to  descend  upon  earth  in  the  form  of  a 
prophet,  that  He  might  lead  them  back  into  the  path  of 
safety. 

The  condition  of  things  at  this  time  justified  the  be- 
lief that  the  arrival  of  Jesus  was  signalized,  imminent 
and  necessary. 

This  explains  why  the  Buddhist  traditions  affirm 
that  the  Eternal  Spirit  separated  itself  from  the  Eternal 
Being  and  incarnated  itself  into  the  newly-born  child 
of  a pious  and  noble  family. 

No  doubt,  the  Buddhists  as  well  as  the  Evangelists 
wished  to  indicate  by  this  that  the  child  belonged  to 
the  royal  house  of  David,  but  the  text  of  the  Evangel, 
according  to  which  the  child  was  conceived  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  can  be  interpreted  in  two  ways,  while  according 
to  the  doctrine  of  Buddha,  which  is  most  conformable 
to  the  laws  of  nature,  the  Spirit  only  incarnated  itself  in 
a child  already  born,  whom  God  blessed  and  chose  to 
accomplish  His  mission  here  below."^ 

At  this  place  there  is  a gap  in  the  traditions  of  the 
Evangelists,  who,  either  from  ignorance  or  negligence, 

*The  theory  of  the  Divinity  or  Buddha  incarnating  at  differ- 
ent times  is  common  to  the  Thibetan  Buddhism  and  modern 
Hinduism.  It  is  known  as  the  Avatara  theory.  The  head  Lama 
of  certain  monasteries  in  Thibet  is  considered  the  living  visible 
embodiment,  for  the  time  being,  of  Buddha,  who  from  time  to 
time  descends  from  heaven  and  reappears  in  human  forms  for 
the  welfare  of  the  world.  Krishna,  in  the  Bhagvad  Gita,  says: 

Every  time  that  religion  is  in  danger  and  that  iniquity  triumphs, 
I issue  forth.  For  the  defense  of  the  good  and  the  suppression  of 
the  wicked,  for  the  establishment  of  righteousness,  I manifest  my- 
self from  age  to  age.”  And  among  the  Buddhists  there  are  vari- 
ous ranks  in  the  incarnations;  there  are  lower  and  higher  Avataras, 
corresponding  to  the  difference  in  rank  of  saints,  etc. — Translator, 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  IO9 

tell  US  nothing  of  his  infancy,  his  youth  or  his  training. 
They  commence  the  history  of  Jesus  with  his  first  ser- 
mon, that  is  to  say,  at  the  time  when  at  the  age  of  thirty 
he  returns  to  his  country. 

All  that  the  Evangelists  say  concerning  the  child- 
hood of  Jesus  totally  lacks  precision.  “ And  the  child 
grew  and  waxed  strong,  filled  with  wisdom,  and  the 
grace  of  God  was  upon  him,”  says  one  of  the  sacred 
authors,  St.  Luke;  and  again:  “The  child  grew  and 
waxed  strong  in  spirit,  and  was  in  the  desert  until  the 
day  of  his  showing  unto  Israel.” 

As  the  records  of  the  Evangelists  were  compiled 
long  afrer  the  death  of  Jesus,  it  is  probable  that  they 
only  consigned  to  writing  the  accounts  of  the  principal 
events  of  his  life. 

On  the  contrary,  the  Buddhists,  who  recorded  their 
chronicles  soon  after  the  crucifixion,  and  who  had  the 
advantage  of  collecting  the  most  correct  references  to 
all  points  which  interested  them,  give  us  a complete  and 
detailed  description  of  the  life  of  Jesus. 

In  those  unfortunate  days,  when  the  struggle  for 
existence  seems  to  have  destroyed  all  notion  of  God, 
the  people  of  Israel  endured  the  double  oppression  of 
the  ambitious  Herod  and  the  despotic  and  avaricious 
Romans.  Then,  as  now,  the  Hebrews  placed  all  their 
hope  in  Providence,  who,  they  believed,  would  send 
them  an  inspired  man,  who  would  deliver  them  from 
their  physical  and  moral  sufferings.  But  time  passed 
and  no  one  took  the  initiative  in  a revolt  against  the 
tyranny  of  their  rulers. 

In  these  times  of  trouble  and  hope,  the  people  of 
Israel  forgot  completely  that  there  existed  in  their 
midst  a poor  Israelite  who  was  directly  descended  from 
their  King  David.  This  poor  man  married  a maiden 
who  gave  birth  to  a marvelous  child. 


no  THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

The  Hebrews  heard  of  this,  and  faithful  to  their 
traditions  of  devotion  and  respect  for  the  race  of  their 
kings,  they  went  in  crowds  to  congratulate  the  happy 
father  and  see  the  child.  It  is  evident  that  Herod  did 
not  long  remain  ignorant  of  all  that  occurred.  He 
feared  that  the  child,  when  of  age,  would  make  use  of 
his  popularity  to  regain  the  throne  of  his  ancestors.  He 
therefore  had  search  made  for  the  child,  whom  the  Is- 
raelites tried  to  conceal  from  the  anger  of  the  king; 
then  he  ordered  the  abominable  massacre  of  the  chil- 
dren, hoping  that  Jesus  would  perish  in  this  vast  human 
hecatomb,  but  the  family  of  Joseph,  being  warned  of 
the  terrible  execution  that  Herod  contemplated,  took 
refuge  in  Egypt. 

Sometime  afterwards  they  returned  to  their  native 
land.  The  child  had  grown  during  these  travels,  al- 
though it  had  been  exposed  to  many  dangers.  Then, 
as  at  present,  the  Oriental  Israelites  commenced  the 
education  of  their  children  at  the  age  of  five  or  six  years. 
Obliged  always  to  remain  concealed,  the  parents  did 
not  permit  the  son  to  leave  the  house;  so,  without  doubt, 
he  passed  all  his  time  studying  the  sacred  writings,  by 
which  reason  when  he  returned  to  Judea  he  was  far  in 
advance  of  all  youths  of  his  age,  which  greatly  aston- 
ished the  learned  elders.  He  was  in  his  thirteenth 
year,  the  age  when,  according  to  the  Judaic  law,  a young 
man  reaches  majority  and  has  the  right  to  marry  and 
perform  his  religious  duties  just  as  adults  do. 

There  still  exists  among  the  Israelites  an  ancient 
religious  custom  which  fixes  the  majority  for  males  at 
therteen,  when  the  youth  becomes  a member  of  society 
and  enjoys  equal  rights  with  the  adults.  Thus  his  mar- 
riage at  this  age  is  lawful,  and  is  even  indispensable  in  the 
warm  countries.  In  Europe,  however,  this  custom  has 
fallen  into  desuetude  and  has  no  more  importance, 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  I II 

owing  to  the  influence  of  local  laws  and  also  to  the  laws 
of  nature,  which  do  not  contribute  here  so  powerfully 
to  the  physical  development  of  the  young  as  in  warmer 
countries. 

His  royal  origin,  his  rare  intelligence,  and  the  hard 
study  to  which  he  had  applied  himself,  caused  even  the 
most  noble  and  wealthy  people  to  regard  him  as  an  ex- 
cellent match,  and  many  strove  to  secure  him  for  a son- 
in-law.  Thus  the  Israelites  of  to-day  hold  it  as  an  honor 
to  marry  their  daughters  to  the  son  of  a Rabbi  or  of  a 
scholar.  But  the  pensive  youth,  seemingly  separated 
from  all  corporal  things,  and  with  a great  thirst  for 
knowledge,  left  secretly  the  house  of  his  parents  and 
joined  the  caravans  that  were  just  leaving  the  country. 

We  may  believe  that  Jesus  Christ  preferred  to  go 
to  India,  because  at  this  time  Egypt  itself  was  a part  of 
the  Roman  possessions,  and  also  because  a very  brisk 
commercial  exchange  with  India  had  circulated  through- 
out Judea  stories  concerning  the  majestic  character  and 
the  unheard-of  richness  of  the  arts  and  sciences  in  this 
marvellous  country,  whither  even  now  all  the  aspirations 
of  the  civilized  world  turn. 

Here  the  Evangelists  lose  the  thread  of  the  terres- 
trial life  of  Jesus.  Luke  says:  '‘He  remained  in  the 
desert  until  the  time  of  showing  unto  Israel,”  which  is  a 
conclusive  proof  that  no  one  knew  where  the  young 
man  had  disappeared  to,  or  whence  he  returned  sud- 
denly after  sixteen  years*  absence. 

On  his  arrival  in  India,  the  country  or  marvels, 
Jesus  began  to  frequent  the  temples  of  the  Jains. 
There  has  existed,  and  still  exists,  in  the  peninsula  of 
Hindustan,  a sect  which  bears  the  name  of  Jains;  it  forms, 
as  it  were,  a bond  of  union  between  Buddhism  and 
Brahmanism,  and  preaches  the  destruction  of  all  other 
beliets,  which  it  declares  are  in  error.  It  arose  in  the 


Iia  THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

seventh  century  B.  C.  Its  name  is  derived  from  the 
word  “Jina,”  (conqueror)  which  is  given  as  a symbol 
of  triumph  over  its  rivals.* 

Astonished  at  the  genius  of  the  young  man  the 
Jainas  requested  him  to  remain  in  their  midst;  but 
Jesus  left  them  to  establish  himself  in  Jagannath,  where 
he  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  treatises  of  relig- 
ion, philosophy,  etc.  Jagannath  is  one  of  the  princi- 
pal cities  sacred  to  the  Brahmins,  and  in  the  time  of 
Christ  possessed  a great  religious  influence. § 

At  Jagannath  there  is  a very  fine  library  of  precious 
Sanskrit  books  and  religious  manuscripts;  Jesus 
remained  six  years  here  studying  the  language  of  the 
country  and  Sanskrit,  which  enabled  him  to  search  into 
all  the  religious  doctrines,  philosophy,  medicine  and 
mathematics.  He  found  much  to  condemn  in  the 
Brahmanical  customs  and  laws,  and  he  maintained 

*In  regard  to  the  Jains  of  India,  M.  Notovitch  seems  to  have 
followed  the  groundless  assumption  of  some  European  scholars, 
that  Jainism  is  a bond  of  union  between  Buddhism  and  Brahman- 
ism; nay,  some  of  the  scholars  maintained  some  years  ago,  that 
Jainism  was  a branch  of  Buddhism.  But  careful  investigations  have 
exploded  that  theory,  and  even  the  European  scholars  now  hold 
that  Jainism  is  older  than  Buddhism.  In  truth,  accepting  the  gen- 
eral opinion  that  the  Brahmins  first  came  to  India  from  the  north- 
western passes,  the  Jains  are  the  descendants  of  the  original 
owners  of  India,  whom  the  Brahmins  in  their  Vedas  give  all  sorts 
of  names,  and  who  often  disturbed  them  in  their  animal  sacrifices. 
For  further  information  on  this  subject,  I refer  the  reader  to  my 
work  on  India. — Translator. 

§Tradition  claims  that  the  ashes  of  the  illustrious  Brahmin 
Krishna  are  preserved  here  in  the  hollow  of  a tree  near  a mag- 
nificent temple.  Krishna  lived  1580  B.  C.,  and  collected  and 
arranged  the  Vedas,  which  he  divided  into  four  books — Rik, 
Yajur,  Saman  and  Atharvan.  Krishna,  who  received  for  his  work 
the  name  of  Vyasa  (i.  e.,  he  who  has  collected  and  divided  the 
Vedas)  has  also  composed  the  Vedenta  and  eighteen  Puranas 
consisting  of  400,000  stanzas. 


Leh,  as  seen  from  outside  the  City. — See  page  50. 


TT4  THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

public  discussions  with  the  Brahmins  who  tried  to 
convince  him  of  the  sacred  character  of  their  estab- 
lished customs. 

Among  other  things  Jesus  denounced  the  injustice 
of  humiliating  the  laborer  (they  not  only  deprived 
him  of  the  right  of  future  happiness,  but  also  denied 
him  the  right  to  attend  religious  sermons).  And  Jesus 
began  to  preach  to  the  Shudras,  the  lowest  caste  of 
slaves,  teaching  them  that  there  is  one  God  only  ac- 
cording to  their  own  laws,  that  all  there  is  exists  only 
through  Him,  that  with  Him  all  are  equal,  and  that  the 
Brahmins  had  obscured  the  great  principle  of  mono- 
theism in  perverting  the  words  of  Brahma  himself,  and 
in  insisting  strongly  on  the  external  ceremonies. 

According  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Brahmins,  this  is 
what  God  speaks  of  Himself  to  the  angels:  “I  have 
been  since  eternity  and  forever  will  I be;  I am  the  first 
cause  of  all  that  exists  in  the  east  and  in  the  west,  in 
the  north  and  in  the  south,  above  and  below,  in  heaven 
and  in  hell.  I am  older  than  all  things,  I am  the  All- 
Powerful;  I am  the  God  of  Gods;  the  Kings  of  Kings; 
I am  Parabrahma,  the  great  soul  of  the  universe.” 

After  the  world  had  appeared  by  the  mere  desire 
of  Parabrahma,  God  created  men  whom  He  arranged 
in  four  classes  according  to  their  color;  white  (Brahm- 
ins), red  (Kshatriyas),  yellow  (Vaishyas)  and  black 
(Shudras). 

Brahma  drew  the  first  from  his  own  mouth  and 
gave  them  as  their  portion  the  government  of  the 
world,  the  duty  of  teaching  the  men  the  laws  and 
healing  and  of  judging  them.  As  the  Brahmins  only 
occupy  the  offices  of  priests,  teachers  and  commenta- 
tors of  the  Vedas,  they  alone  should  observe  celibacy. 

The  second  caste,  that  of  the  Kshatriyas,  came 
from  the  hand  of  Brahma.  He  made  them  warriors 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  1 1\ 

entrusting  to  them  the  care  of  defending  society.  All 
kings,  princes,  captains,  governors  and  warlike  people, 
belong  to  this  caste,  and  preserve  with  the  Brahmins 
the  most  cordial  relations,  because  the  one  can  not  exist 
without  the  other,  and  because  the  peace  of  the  country 
depends  on  the  alliance  of  knowledge  with  power,  of 
the  temple  of  Brahma  with  the  royal  throne. 

The  Vaishyas,  who  form  the  third  caste,  were  cre- 
ated by  Brahma  from  his  belly.  They  are  destined  to 
to  till  the  land,  to  raise  cattle  and  carry  on  all  kinds  of 
trade  and  commerce,  that  they  may  support  the  Brahm- 
ins and  the  Kshatriyas.  They  are  permitted  to  go  to 
the  temple  and  to  listen  to  the  readings  of  Vedas  only 
on  feast  days;  at  other  times  they  are  obliged  to  attend 
to  their  alloted  duties. 

The  last  class,  the  blacks  or  Shudras.  came  from 
the  feet  of  Brahma  to  be  the  humble  servants  or  slaves 
of  the  other  three  castes.  They  are  forbidden  to  attend 
the  reading  of  the  Vedas;  he  who  comes  in  contact 
with  them  is  defiled.  They  are  miserable  beings  de- 
prived of  all  human  rights,  not  being  allowed  to  look 
at  members  of  the  higher  castes,  and  in  sickness  forbid- 
den to  receive  a physician’s  care. 

Death  alone  can  free  them  from  the  consequences 
of  their  life  of  servitude;  in  order  to  get  this  reward, 
however,  they  must  have  served  for  their  whole  life, 
without  murmur  or  idleness,  a member  of  one  of  the 
privileged  classes.  Then,  only,  after  having  performed 
with  fidelity  and  zeal  his  duties  in  the  service  of  a 
Brahmin  or  a Kshatriya,  has  the  Shudra  the  promise 
that  his  soul,  after  death,  will  be  raised  to  a superior 
caste. 

If  a Shudra  fails  in  his  obedience  towards  a mem- 
ber of  the  privileged  class  or  otherwise  becomes  dis- 
graced, he  is  outcasted  and  degraded  to  the  rank  of  a 


il6  THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

Paria,  who  is  banished  from  all  the  towns  and  villages; 
he  is  the  object  of  general  scorn,  is  considered  an  abject 
creature,  permitted  to  perform  only  the  basest  labor. 

The  same  punishment  may  also  be  inflicted  on  a 
member  of  the  other  caste;  but  he,  however,  by  repent- 
ing, fasting  and  penances  can  re-enter  his  former  rank 
in  the  caste,  while  the  unfortunate  Shudra,  once  driven 
from  his  caste,  is  forever  lost. 

This  explains  the  worship,  by  the  Vaishyas  and  the 
Shudras,  of  Jesus,  who  although  menaced  by  the 
Brahmins  and  Kshatriyas,  continued  teaching  them. 

Now,  Jesus  in  his  sermons  censured  not  only  the  in- 
justice of  depriving  a man  of  his  rights  as  a man,  and  the 
worship  of  a monkey,  a piece  of  marble  or  metal,  but, 
also,  he  condemned  the  very  principle  of  Brahmanism, 
its  system  of  gods,  its  doctrines  and  its  Trimurti.  the 
corner  stone  of  that  religion. 

Parabrahma  is  represented  with  three  faces  upon  one 
head;  this  is  the  Trimurti  composed  of  Brahma,  the 
creator,  Vishnu,  the  preserver  and  Shiva,  the  destroyer. 

The  origin  of  the  Trimurti  is: 

In  the  beginning  Parabrahma  created  the  waters 
and  in  them  cast  the  generative  seed  which  transformed 
itself  into  a glowing  egg  reflecting  the  image  of  Brahma. 
Millions  of  centuries  passed  by  when  Brahma  divided 
the  egg  into  two  parts,  one  of  which,  the  upper  half, 
became  the  sky,  the  lower  half,  the  earth.  This  done, 
Brahma  descended  on  earth  in  the  form  of  a child  seat- 
ing himself  on  a lotus-flower,  and  there  began  to  pon- 
der within  himself  thus:  Who  will  watch  over  and  pre- 
serve what  I have  created?  An  answer  came  from  his 
mouth  in  the  form  of  a flame  “ I/’  And  Brahma  gave 
to  this  word  the  name  Vishnu,  which  means  “he  who 
preserves.”  Then  Brahma  divided  his  being  into  two 
parts,  the  one  male,  the  other  female — the  active  world 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  11/ 

and  the  passive  world — the  union  of  which  gave  birth 
to  Shiva,  the  destroyer. 

The  following  are  the  attributes  of  the  Trimurti: 
Brahma,  the  creative  being;  Vishnu,  the  preserving  wis- 
dom; Shiva,  the  destructive  wrath  of  Justice.  Brahma 
is  the  substance  of  which  everything  is  made,  Vishnu 
the  space  in  which  all  things  live,  and  Shiva  the  time 
which  annihilates  all  things.  Brahma,  the  air  which 
invigorates  all,  Vishnu,  the  water  which  sustains  the 
strength  of  creatures;  Shiva,  the  fire  which  breaks  the 
bond  that  unites  all  things.  Brahma  is  the  past,  Vishnu 
the  present,  and  Shiva  the  future.  Each  part  of  the 
Trimurti  possesses  also  a wife.  That  of  Brahma  is 
Sarasvati,  goddess  of  wisdom ; that  of  Vishnu  is  Lakshmi, 
goddess  of  virtue;  and  Shiva  is  wedded  to  Kali,  the 
goddess  of  death,  the  universal  destroyer. 

From  this  last  union  was  born  the  wise  god 
Ganesha,  and  Indra,  chief  of  the  inferior  divinities;  the 
number  of  which  including  all  objects  of  worship  of  the 
Hindus  reaches  three  hundred  millions. 

Vishnu  came  down  upon  earth  eight  times,  incar- 
nating himself  first  in  a fish,  to  save  the  sacred  books 
from  the  deluge,  then  successively  in  a tortoise,  a 
dwarf,  a wild  boar,  a lion,  then  in  Rama,  who  was  a 
king’s  son,  in  Krishna  and  finally  in  Buddha.  He  will 
come  for  the  ninth  time  in  the  form  of  a cavalier 
mounted  upon  a white  horse  to  destroy  death  and 
sin. 

Jesus  denied  the  existence  of  all  these  hierarchical 
absurdities  of  God,  which  obscured  the  great  principle 
of  monotheism. 

The  Brahmins,  seeing  that  the  people  began  to 
adopt  the  doctrines  of  Jesus,  their  opponent  whom  they 
had  hoped  to  win  to  themselves,  resolved  to  kill  him; 
but  being  warned  by  his  faithful  followers  of  the 


Bi8  the  unknown  life  of  JESUS  CHRIST. 

Oangers  menacing  him,  he  fled  to  the  mountains  of 
Vepal. 

Buddhism  had  taken  deep  roots  in  this  country  at 
^his  period.  This  schism  was  remarkable  on  account 
)f  its  moral  principles  and  ideas  on  the  nature  of  div- 
jiity — ideas  which  brought  man  and  nature,  and  men 
\mong  themselves  nearer  together. 

The  founder  of  this  sect,  Shakya  Muni,  was  born 
1500  B.  C.,  at  Kapila,  the  capital  of  his  father’s  king- 
dom, near  Nepal  in  the  Himalayas.  He  belonged  to 
the  race  of  the  Gautamides  and  to  the  ancient  family 
of  the  Shakyas.  From  his  infancy  he  displayed  a great 
interest  in  religion,  and,  contrary  to  the  wishes  of  his 
father,  he  left  the  palace  with  all  its  alluring  luxuries 
and  began  to  preach  against  the  Brahmins,  purifying 
their  doctrines.  He  died  at  Kushinagara  surrounded  by 
many  faithful  disciples.  His  body  was  burned  and  his 
ashes  were  distributed  among  the  villages  from  which 
his  new  doctrine  had  driven  Brahmanism. 

According  to  the  Buddhist  doctrine,  the  Creator 
always  remains  in  a condition  of  perfect  inaction  which 
nothing  can  disturb  and  from  which  He  emerges,  only 
at  times  determined  by  fate  in  order  to  create  earthly 
Buddhas.  To  this  end  the  Spirit  separates  itself  from 
the  sovereign  Creator,  and  becomes  incarnated  in  a 
Buddha  and  dwells  upon  the  earth  for  some  time, 
where  it  creates  Bodhisattvas  (masters),  whose  mission 
it  is  to  preach  the  divine  law  and  to  found  new  churches 
of  believers,  to  whom  they  give  laws  and  for  whom 
they  institute  a new  religious  order,  following  the  tradi- 
tions of  Buddhism. 

An  earthly  Buddha  is,  in  several  ways,  a reflection 
of  the  sovereign  Creator  Buddha,  to  whom  he  is  united 
again  after  having  ended  his  life  upon  earth;  the  Bo- 
hhisattvas,  too,  as  a reward  for  their  labor  and  for  the 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  I IQ 

privations  which  they  have  endured  here  below,  receive 
eternal  happiness  and  enjoy  a repose  which  nothing 
can  disturb.* 

Jesus  sojourned  six  years  among  the  Buddhists, 
where  he  found  the  principle  of  monotheism  still  in  its 
purity.  Having  attained  the  age  of  twenty-six  years,  he 
remembered  his  native  land  which  was  under  the  heavy 
oppression  of  foreigners.  He  therefore  resolved  to  re- 
turn there.  On  his  journey  he  preached  in  many  coun- 
tries against  idolatry,  human  sacrifices  and  religious 
errors,  exhorting  the  people  to  recognize  and  worship 
God,  the  Father  of  all  beings  whom  He  loved  equally, 
the  masters  as  well  as  the  slaves,  for  they  are  all  His 
children,  to  whom  He  has  given  His  beautiful  universe 
as  a common  heritage.  The  sermons  of  Jesus  often 
produced  a deep  impression  upon  the  people  through 
whose  country  he  journeyed,  exposed  to  all  sorts  of 
dangers  instigated  against  him  by  the  clergy,  but  pro- 
tected by  the  idolaters  who  had  only  the  day  before 
offered  their  children  as  sacrifices  to  their  idols. 

While  crossing  Persia,  Jesus  almost  caused  a revolt 
among  the  worshipers  of  the  doctrine  of  Zoroaster. 
The  priests,  fearing  the  vengeance  of  the  people,  dared 
not  assassinate  him;  they  resorted  to  stratagem  and 
drove  him  from  the  city  at  night,  hoping  that  the 
fierce  beasts  would  devour  him,  but  Jesus  escaped  this 
peril  and  arrived  safe  and  sound  in  the  country  of 
Israel. 

It  is  to  be  remarked  here  that  the  Orientals  some- 
times so  picturesque  in  the  midst  of  their  miseries  and 
the  ocean  of  corruption  in  which  they  have  sunk  under 
the  constant  influences  of  their  priests  and  teachers, 

*This,  in  purport  is  true,  about  the  Thibetan  Buddhism, 
which  differs  in  many  respects  from  the  Southern  Buddhism. — 
Translator, 


120 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHTIST. 

possess,  nevertheless  a pronounced  taste  for  instruction 
and  easily  understand  proper  explanations.  More 
than  once,  by  using  simple  words  of  truth  I appealed  to 
the  conscience  of  a robber  or  a rebellious  servant. 
These  people,  filled  with  the  sentiment  of  innate  hon- 
esty which  the  priests,  to  further  their  personal  ends, 
make  every  endeavor  to  crush,  very  quickly  become 
honest  and  feel  contempt  for  those  who  have  unjustly 
abused  them. 

By  the  single  virtue  of  truthfulness  one  could  make 
of  entire  India  with  its  three  hundred  millions  of  idols 
a vast  Christian  country.  But  this  beautiful  project 
would  probably  create  a prejudice  among  certain  Chris- 
tians, who  like  the  priests  above  mentioned,  speculate 
upon  the  ignorance  of  the  masses  to  enrich  themselves. 

St.  Luke  says  that  Jesus  was  about  thirty  years  old 
when  he  entered  on  his  ministry.  According  to  the 
Buddhist  chronicler  Jesus  must  have  begun  preaching 
in  his  twenty-ninth  year.  All  his  sermons  which  the 
evangelists  do  not  mention  and  which  have  been  pre- 
served by  the  Buddhists  are  remarkable  for  their  charac- 
ter of  divine  grandeur.  The  fame  of  the  new  preacher 
spread  rapidly  through  the  country  and  Jerusalem  eager- 
ly awaited  his  arrival.  When  he  approached  the  holy 
city,  the  people  went  to  meet  him  in  great  throngs  and 
led  him  triumphantly  to  the  temple,  which  is  in  con- 
formity with  the  Christian  tradition  The  chiefs  and 
the  learned  men  who  heard  him,  admired  his  sermons 
and  rejoiced  at  the  beneficent  impression  produced  by 
his  words  on  the  multitude.  All  the  remat'kable  ser- 
mons of  Jesus  are  full  of  sublime  words. 

Pilate,  the  governor  of  the  country,  however,  did 
not  look  at  this  matter  in  the  same  light.  Zealous 
agents  reported  to  him  that  Jesus  had  announced  the 
near  approach  of  a new  kingdom,  the  re-establishment 


lyEH,  AS  SEEN  FROM  THE  MARKET-PEACE. 

See  page  50. 


122  THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

of  the  throne  of  Israel,  and  that  he  claimed  himself  to 
be  the  Son  of  God,  sent  to  restore  the  courage  of  Israel, 
for  he,  the  King  of  Judea,  would  soon  ascend  the 
throne  of  his  ancestors. 

I do  not  wish  to  attribute  to  Jesus  the  role  of  revo- 
lutionist, but  it  seems  to  me  very  probable  that  Jesus 
worked  upon  the  people  with  the  view  of  re-establishing 
the  throne  which  belonged  to  him  by  right  of  inherit- 
ance. Divinely  inspired  and  at  the  same  time  convinced 
that  his  pretentions  were  legitimate,  Jesus  preached 
the  spiritual  union  of  the  people  in  order  that  a political 
union  might  result. 

Alarmed  at  these  rumors,  Pilate  called  the  learned 
men  and  the  elders  of  the  people  together  and  ordered 
them  to  forbid  Jesus  to  preach  publicly,  and  even  to 
condemn  him  in  the  temple  under  the  charge  of 
apostacy.  This  was  the  best  way  of  ridding  himself  of 
a dangerous  man,  of  whose  royal  origin  Pilate  knew  and 
whose  fame  was  increasing  among  the  people. 

We  must  remark  here  that  far  from  persecuting 
Jesus  the  Israelites  recognizing  in  him  the  decendant 
of  the  illustrious  dynasty  of  David,  made  him  the  object 
of  their  secret  hopes,  as  is  proven  by  the  Scriptures 
which  relate  that  Jesus  preached  freely  and  openly  in 
the  temple  in  the  presence  of  the  elders,  who  could 
have  forbidden  him  not  only  access  to  the  temple,  but 
even  more,  the  right  to  preach. 

By  Pilate’s  order,  the  Sanhedrim  met  and  sum- 
moned Jesus  to  appear  before  its  tribunal.  At  the  close 
of  the  inquest  the  members  of  the  Sanhedrim  informed 
Pilate  that  his  suspicions  were  groundless,  as ‘Jesus 
made  only  a religious  propaganda  and  not  a political 
one;  that  he  preached  the  divine  word  and  that  further- 
more he  claimed  to  have  come  not  to  overthrow,  buv 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHR4ST.  I 23 

to  re-establish  the  laws  of  Moses.  The  Buddhist 
chronicle  only  confirms  the  sympathy  which  undoubt- 
edly existed  between  Jesus,  the  young  preacher,  and 
the  elders  of  Israel.  Hence  their  reply,  “ we  will  not 
judge  a just  man  ” 

Pilate  was  not  satisfied,  however,  and  sought 
another  opportunity  to  bring  Jesus  before  a new  and 
regular  tribunal;  with  this  object  a number  of  spies 
were  sent  to  watch  him  and  finally  apprehended  him. 

According  to  the  Evangelists,  it  was  the  Pharisees 
and  the  Hebrews  who  sought  to  put  Jesus  to  death, 
while  the  Buddhist  chronicle  declares  positively  that 
Pilate  alone  was  responsible.  This  latter  version  is 
evidently  much  more  probable  than  the  former;  the 
conquerors  of  Judea  could  not  long  tolerate  the  pre- 
sence of  a man  who  announced  to  the  people  their  near 
deliverance  from  the  foreign  yoke.  Undoubtedly,  the 
popularity  of  Jesus  was  alarming  to  Pilate,  who,  to  in- 
sure his  own  safety,  naturally  surrounded  the  young 
preacher  with  his  crafty  agents  instructed  to  watch  his 
every  word  and  action.  They  tried  by  putting  embar- 
rassing questions  to  Jesus  to  draw  from  him  imprudent 
words  which  would  serve  as  an  excuse  for  Pilate’s 
anger.  If  the  teaching  of  Jesus  had  displeased  the 
learned  men  and  Hebrew  priests,  they  would  simply 
have  forbidden  the  people  to  listen  to  him  or  follow 
him  and  would  have  prevented  him  from  entering  the 
temple.  The  Evangelists,  however,  relate  that  Jesus 
enjoyed  great  liberty  among  the  Israelites,  and  in  the 
temples  where  Pharisees  and  wise  men  conversed  with 
him. 

In  order  to  insure  the  condemnation  of  Jesus, 
Pilate  submitted  him  to  preliminary  tortures  to  force 
from  him  an  avowal  of  high  treason.  These  tortures 
did  not  produce  the  desired  result.  But,  contrary  to 


124  THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

the  usual  experience  with  other  innocent  prisoners  sub- 
jected to  like  sufferings,  Jesus  remained  firm,  never 
faltering  or  speaking  the  slightest  words  by  which  he 
could  be  condemned.  Thus  finding  himself  foiled, 
Pilate  commanded  that  Jesus  be  put  to  the  utmost  tor- 
tures, hoping  to  hasten  death  by  exhausting  his  vital 
forces.  Jesus,  however,  using  his  great  will  to  increase 
his  strength  and  courage,  and  having  confidence  in 
his  just  cause  which  was  that  of  the  nation  and  of  God, 
endured  with  great  fortitude  all  the  bitter  cruelties  of 
his  executioners.  The  secret  and  extraordinary  tor- 
tures provoked  discontent  among  the  elders,  who  there- 
fore resolved  to  intercede  in  his  favor  and  demand 
that  he  be  set  free  before  the  feast  of  Passover.  Their 
demand  being  rejected  by  Pilate,  they  insisted  that  he 
be  brought  before  the  tribunal,  so  certain  were  they  of 
his  acquittal  which  seemed  the  more  sure  since  the 
entire  people  ardently  desired  it. 

In  the  eyes  of  the  priests,  Jesus  was  a saint  belong- 
ing to  the  family  of  David,  and  his  unjust  imprisonment 
or  that  which  was  much  more  serious,  his  condemna- 
tion, would  cast  a profound  gloom  over  the  solemnities 
of  the  great  national  festival  of  the  Israelites.  Learn- 
ing of  the  refusal  of  their  demands,  they  begged  that 
the  judgment  might  take  place  before  the  festival.  To 
this  Pilate  acceded,  but  he  also  caused  two  robbers  to 
be  judged  at  the  same  time.  By  this  method  Pilate 
endeavored  to  weaken  in  the  eyes  of  the  people  the  im- 
portance of  the  fact  that  the  tribunal  had  tried  and  ren- 
dered judgment  against  an  innocent  man  alone,  which 
would  leave  on  the  minds  of  the  entire  nation  the  sad 
impression  that  a verdict  had  been  planned  in  advance. 
On  the  contrary,  the  condemnation  of  Jesus  simulta- 
neously with  that  of  the  thieves  would  almost  efface 
the  injustice  committed  against  one  of  the  prisoners 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  12$ 

The  accusation  was  founded  upon  the  evidence  of 
hired  witnesses. 

During  the  trial,  Pilate  perverted  the  words  of  Jesus 
(which  taught  of  the  kingdom  of  Heaven)  to  justify  the 
accusation  which  was  formulated  against  him.  He 
reckoned,  it  would  seem,  on  the  effect  produced  by  the 
answers  of  Jesus  and  upon  his  personal  authority  to  in- 
fluence the  members  of  the  tribunal  not  to  examine  too 
minutely  the  details  of  the  case  in  hand  to  secure  a ver- 
dict according  to  his  desire. 

After  having  heard  the  perfectly  natural  answer  of 
the  judges  that  the  words  of  Jesus  were  diametrically 
opposed  to  the  accusation,  and  therefore  he  could  not 
be  condemned  thereon,  Pilate  had  no  other  recourse  but 
to  employ,  the  evidence  of  an  informer  who,  as  the 
Governor  thought,  could  not  fail  to  produce  a very 
strong  impression  upon  the  judges.  This  wretch,  who 
was  none  other  than  Judas,  formally  accused  Jesus  of 
having  aroused  a revolt  among  the  people. 

Then  took  place  a scene  most  sublime.  When 
Judas  gave  his  evidence,  Jesus  turned  to  him,  and  hav- 
ing blessed  him,  said:  ‘‘Thou  shalt  be  forgiven,  for 
what  thou  sayest  cometh  not  of  thee;”  then  addressing 
the  Governor,  he  said:  “Why  humiliate  thy  dignity  and 
teach  thy  inferiors  to  live  in  fasehood,  since  even  with- 
out this  thou  hast  the  power  to  condemn  an  innocent 
person?” — Words  sublime  and  touching!  Jesus  Christ 
manifests  himself  there  in  all  his  grandeur  by  convinc- 
ing first  the  informer  of  having  sold  his  conscience,  then 
by  pardoning  him.  Afterwards  he  addresses  Pilate,  re- 
proaching him  for  having  had  recourse  to  a process  so 
degrading  to  his  dignity  to  obtain  his  condemnation. 
The  accusation  that  Jesus  made  agaist  Pilate  caused  the 
Governor  to  completely  forget  his  position  and  prudence 
which  he  should  have  displayed.  So  he  demanded  im- 


126  THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

periously  of  the  judges  the  condemnation  of  Jesus,  and 
as  if  to  assert  his  unlimited  power,  he  ordered  the  ac- 
quittal of  the  robbers.  The  judges,  finding  this  demand 
of  Pilate  that  would  force  them  to  acquit  the  robbers 
and  condemn  Jesus  though  innocent,  too  unjust  for 
them  to  comply  with,  refused  to  commit  this  double 
crime  against  their  conscience  and  their  laws.  But 
being  unable  to  contend  against  him  who  had  the  power 
to  pronounce  a final  and  unappealable  verdict,  and  see- 
ing that  he  was  determined  on  ridding  himself,  at  any 
cost,  of  a man  for  whoni  the  Roman  authorities  had  the 
slightest  suspicion,  they  left  him  to  pronounce  the  ver- 
dict which  he  had  so  much  at  heart.  That  they  might 
not  suffer  the  reproaches  of  the  people,  who  would 
never  have  forgiven  them  for  such  great  injustice,  they 
washed  their  hands  in  the  presence  of  the  people  as 
they  left  the  tribunal  hall,  thus  showing  that  they  had 
not  sanctioned  the  death  of  the  just  Jesus  whom  the 
people  worshiped. 

About  ten  years  ago  I read  in  a German  journal, 
the  “ F'remdenblatt,”  an  article  on  Judas,  in  which  the 
author  showed  that  the  informer  had  been  the  best 
friend  of  Jesus.  It  was  for  love  of  his  master  that  Judas 
had  betrayed  him,  believing  blindly  in  the  words  of  the 
Saviour,  who  said  that  his  kingdom  would  come  after 
his  death.  But  when  he  beheld  him  on  the  cross,  Judas, 
after  having  vainly  awaited  the  promised  resurrection, 
could  not  overcome  his  overwhelming  remorse,  and 
hung  himself.  It  is  useless  to  elaborate  on  this  lucu- 
bration, though  it  is  certainly  original  enough. 

But  to  return  to  the  scriptural  narrative  and  to  the 
Buddhist  chronicle,  it  is  quite  probable  that  the  hired 
informer  was  Judas,  altnough  upon  this  point  the  Bud- 
dhist version  is  silent.  As  to  the  theory  that  remorse 
of  conscience  led  the  informer  to  take  his  own  life,  I do 


THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  12;^ 

net  attach  any  credit  to  it.  A man  capable  of  commit- 
ting such  a cowardly  act  and  of  accusing  a friend  falsely 
and  that  without  any  spirit  of  envy  or  revenge,  but  only 
for  a handful  of  silver,  such  a man,  I say,  is  psycho- 
logically valueless  and  incapable  of  knowing  what 
honesty  or  conscience  is,  therefore  remorse  is  unknown 
to  him.  It  is  probable  that  the  Governor  acted  in  this 
matter,  as  is  done  sometimes  in  our  own  day  when  it  is 
necessary  to  conceal  from  the  people  a grave  secret  at 
any  cost,  and  had  Judas  hanged  immediately,  to  prevent 
the  truth  from  ever  being  revealed  to  the  public  that 
the  testimony  which  condemned  Jesus  emanated  from 
Pilate  alone. 

On  the  day  of  the  execution,  a large  detachment  of 
Roman  soldiers  was  stationed  around  the  cross  to  pre- 
vent the  crowd  from  rescuing  the  object  of  their  wor- 
ship. In  this  Pilate  displayed  extraordinary  firmness 
and  resolution.  Owing  to  these  precautions,  sedition 
was  arrested;  he  could  not,  however,  hinder  the  people 
weeping  over  the  death  of  their  cherished  idol, 
he  being  the  last  branch  of  the  descendant  of  David. 

Great  throngs  went  to  worship  the  tomb  of  Jesus. 
Although  we  have  no  definite  account  concerning  the 
first  days  following  the  execution,  we  can,  by  probable 
conjectures,  reconstruct  the  scenes  which  must  have 
followed.  It  is  very  probable  that  the  prudent  lieu- 
tenant of  the  Roman  Caesar,  seeing  that  the  tomb  of 
Jesus  had  become  a place  of  universal  lamentation  and 
national  grief,  and  fearing  that  the  memory  of  the  just 
man  would  excite  the  discontent  and  raise  the  entire 
country  against  the  foreign  yoke,  should  employ  all 
possible  means  to  banish  the  remembrance  of  Jesus 
from  the  mind  of  the  public.  Pilate  caused  the  body 
of  Jesus  to  be  buried  near  the  place  of  execution  and 
placed  a detachment  of  soldiers  on  guard,  who  for  three 


128  THE  UNKNOWN  LIFE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

days  were  the  jest  and  scorn  of  the  people,  who,  brav- 
ing the  danger,  came  in  throngs  to  worship  the  great 
martyr.  Then  Pilate  ordered  the  soldiers  to  raise  the 
body  by  night,  when  the  pilgrimage  ceased,  and  to  bury 
it  secretly  in  some  other  place,  leaving  the  first  tomb 
open  and  unguarded  so  that  the  people  might  see  that 
Jesus  had  disappeared.  But  Pilate  failed  to  accomplish 
this  purpose;  for  the  next  day,  not  finding  the  body  of 
their  Master  in  the  sepulcher,  the  Hebrews  who  were 
superstitious  and  believed  in  miracles,  declared  that  he 
had  arisen  from  the  dead.  How  this  legend  ever  came 
to  be  so  generally  accepted,  we  do  not  know;  perhaps 
it  remained  latent  for  a long  time  and  then  spread 
among  low  people.  Possibly  the  Ecclesiastical  authori- 
ties among  the  Hebrews  looked  upon  this  innocent 
belief  with  indulgence,  which  gave  the  oppressed  a 
shadow  of  revenge  against  their  oppressors.  Howso- 
ever this  may  be,  since  the  day  when  this  legend  of  the 
resurrection  of  Jesus  became  known  to  all,  no  one  has 
been  firm  enough  to  point  out  the  impossibility  of  it. 

Concerning  the  resurrection  we  must  notice  that 
according  to  the  Buddhists  the  soul  of  the  just  unites 
itself  to  the  Eternal  Being,  while  the  Evangelists  insist 
rather  upon  the  ascension  of  the  body.  It  seems  to  me, 
nevertheless,  that  the  Evangelists  and  the  Apostles 
were  very  wise  in  giving  a plastic  description  of  the  re- 
surrection, for  otherwise,  i.  e.,  if  the  miracle  had  been  less 
material,  their  teachings  would  not  have  had,  in  the 
eyes  of  the  people,  that  divine  authority,  that  character 
so  manifestly  divine,  which  Christianity  retains  even  to- 
day, as  being  the  only  religion  capable  of  maintaining 
the  people  in  a condition  of  sublime  enthusiasm,  of 
softening  their  savage  Instincts,  and  of  bringing  them 
nearer  the  gran^  and  simple  nature  which  God  has 
entrusted,  it  is  said,  to  that  feeble  dwarf  called  “ man.'^ 


■ I • 


\ 


. . .^-..  t \n 


THE  DANGERS  OF  PSYCHISM 


It  is  with  great  pleasure  that  we  present  the  views  of 
two  distinguished  characters  in  reference  to  the  DANGERS 
OF  PSYCHISM.  Col.  H.  S.  Olcott  and  Miss  Elizabeth  Har- 
low, the  former  representing  Theosophy,  and  the  latter 
Spiritualism.  Both  lectures,  carefully  and  critically 
studied,  will  furnish  a rare  field  of  thought  for  the  Occult 
student  to  consider,  and  from  which  he  will  derive  great 
benefit. 

The  Realms  of  the  Occult  are  inconceivably  extensive, 
penetrating  the  regions  of  the  material  as  well  as  the 
spiritual,  and  furnish  the  careful  student  with  an  inex- 
haustible mine  for  exploration,  each  step  in  advance  re- 
vealing something  startlingly  new. 

The  statements  made  by  Col.  Olcott  in  reference  to  Ele- 
mentary Spirits,  Gnomes  that  haunt  the  mines.  Spirits  of 
the  Air,  the  Sylphs,  Spirits  of  the  Water,  Undines,  Spirits 
of  the  Fire,  etc.,  read  somewhat  like  a fairy  tale.  Their 
actual  existence  rests  on  evidence  that  is  considered  by 
thousands  of  intelligent  Theosophists  as  irrefutable.  The 
lecture  that  follows  on  the  same  subject,  by  the  brilliant 
Miss  Elizabeth  Harlow,  will  be  found  no  less  interesting 
and  valuable,  in  connection  with  occult  studies. 

These  two  lectures,  emanating  from  different  fields  of 
thought,  will  prove  exceptionally  valuable  to  every  re- 
fiecting  mind  investigating  in  the  realms  of  spirit  infiu- 
ences.  J-  R-  FRANCIS, 

Publisher. 


THE  DANGERS  OF  PSYCHISM 


A Lecture  Delivered  by  Col.  H.  S.  Olcott,  a Resident 
of  India,  Before  the  Theosophical 
Society  of  Chicago,  111. 


Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: — The  subject 
which  has  been  given  to  me  to  discuss  this  evening  is  one 
of  very  great  importance,  one  which  involves  a great  deal 
of  danger,  which  leads  to  a great  deal  of  deception  and  is 
often  followed  by  great  misery.  Psychism  is  a system  of 
research  into  the  nature  and  functions  of  the  psychic.  It 
is  the  principle  between  the  body  and  spirit  mentioned 
also  by  St.  Paul.  It  deals  with  a border  land,  as  Mr. 
Stead  has  called  it,  between  this  world  and  the  next;  a 
land  of  clouds  and  darkness;  a land  of  fearful  sights  and 
scenes  whose  appalling  nature  has  been  so  vividly  por- 
trayed by  Bulwer  Lytton  in  his  work  Zanoni. 

Now  you  will  find  taught  in  all  books  and  literature 
that  deal  with  the  subject  that  tjie  postulant  for  knowledge 
of  the  after-death  life,  if  he  wishes  to  succeed,  must  call 
to  his  aid  a will  and  courage  that  cannot  be  daunted  by 
any  experience,  however  startling.  It  is  taught  that  the 
neophyte  must  go  into  each  of  the  planes  of  being  that  are 
occupied  by  what  is  called  the  elemental  spirits;  that  is  to 
say,  the  semi-intelligent  forces  of  nature  which  handle 
matter  under  the  direction  of  a general  law,  and  also  un- 
der special  direction.  ' 

THERE  ARE  THE  SPIRITS,  according  to  the  classifica- 
tion, of  the  earth,  the  gnomes  that  haunt  the  mines;  tlie 
spirits  of  the  air,  the  sylphs;  the  spirits  of  the  water,  un- 
dines, and  the  spirits  of  the  fire,  salamanders.  Now  this 
is  a matter  of  observation,  that  man  embodies  in  his  tem- 
perament some  of  these  elements;  some  of  these  element- 
ary spirits  go  toward  his  make  up,  and  the  preponderance 
of  tlie  one  or  the  other  is  sliown  in  the  natural  inclinations 
of  the  individual.  For  instance,  he  who  is  akin  to  the 
Spirits  of  the  Mines  or  earth,  or  gnomes,  is  the  one  who  is 


132 


THE  DANGERS  OP  PSYCHISM. 


a born  explorer,  who  finds  the  lead  or  gold  or  silver;  or 
the  man  who  goes  into  the  market  and  accumulates 
money.  Some  of  the  greatest  financiers  have  been  very 
stupid  and  uninformed  about  general  matters,  but  they 
have  got  a certain  skill  or  cunning  which  leads  them  to  ac- 
cumulate money;  it  is  no  trouble;  they  cannot  tell  you 
how  they  do  it.  They  only  know  that  they  have  an  in- 
stinct that  tells  them  when  to  operate,  and  leads  them 
usually  to  success. 

Those  who  are  imbued  with  the  Spirits  of  the  Water  are 
attracted  to  a sea-faring  life.  The  young  man  away  back 
on  the  prairies  who  never  saw  a ship  or  port  feels  an  irre- 
sistible longing  to  find  his  way  to  the  ocean,  and  take  up 
the  life  of  a mariner,  and  is  not  discouraged  or  turned 
back  by  the  hardships  through  which  he  has  to  pass.‘ 

Those  who  are  imbued  with  the  Spirits  of  Fire  are 
those  who  when  spiritual  mediums,  are  able  to  handle  fire 
with  impunity.  We  had  an  American  medium  some  years 
ago,  a woman,  who  could  handle  red-hot  lamp  chimneys 
and  coals  of  fire.  Then  there  was  Home,  the  medium, 
who  could  take  burning  coals  of  fire  out  of  the  grate  and 
hold  them  in  his  hand  and  put  them  on  top  of  another 
person’s  head  without  that  person  being  burned.  These 
are  the  people  who  in  certain  Oriental  countries  perform 
yearly  the  ceremony  of  walking  the  fire.  I have  seen  it 
myself.  It  is  done  in  this  way.  A trench  of  twenty  feet 
in  length  is  dug,  six  or  eight  feet  wide  and  perhaps  four 
or  five  feet  deep.  For  twenty-four  hours  before  the  cere- 
mony is  to  take  place  wood  is  consumed  and  reduced  to  a 
state  of  burning  embers.  A bed  of  coals  is  formed  and 
the  heat  is  something  intense.  If  you  should  step  near  the 
pit  you  would  get  scorched.  When  the  time  for  the  cere- 
mony occurs  a man  who  is  some  kind  of  a low-caste  priest 
with  some  fantastic  dress  on  him,  comes  out  and  holding 
a tray  in  his  hand  with  some  figure  of  a god,  or  temple, 
or  something  of  that  character  on  it,  he  makes  a circum- 
ambulation  of  the  pit  a certain  number  of  times,  all  the 
time  chanting.  He  is  followed  by  some  of  his  devotees 
from  the  same  temple.  When  they  have  made  the  circum- 
ambulation  then  they  try  to  ascertain  if  the  gods  of  the  fire 
are  favorable.  To  do  that  they  take  a handkerchief  and 
they  lay  it  on  the  bed  of  hot  coals;  if  the  handkerchief  is 
not  consumed  that  is  a sign  that  all  is  ready;  if  it  is,  they 
wait  and  go  on  with  the  ceremony.  Sometimes  they  throw 
on  some  other  article,  the  same  test  being  applied. 

WHEN  THEY  ARE  READY  the  priest  begins  at  one  end 
of  the  pit  to  go  down  the  slope  of  the  edge  to  the  bottom 
and  walks  deliberately  throngh  this  bed  of  live  coals,  and 
his  followers  after  him  and  then  they  turn  round  and  come 
back,  and  so  keep  on.  The  people  at  large  come  close  and 


THE  DANGERS  OF  PSYCHISM. 


133 


walk  around  through  it  but  they  do  not  get  burnt;  that  is 
to  say  if  they  have  made  certain  preparation  for  the  cere- 
mony by  systematic  bathing. 

When  I saw  this  ceremony  it  was  made  for  our  partic- 
ular benefit  on  the  grounds  of  the  Hindoo  Central  College 
at  Benares.  Among  the  foreign  visitors  who  were  with  us 
at  the  time  was  a French  physician  of  the  navy,  a man  of 
science,  a member  of  our  society,  who  wished  to  inform 
himself  whether  there  was  any  fraud  or  not.  He  deliber- 
ately took  of  his  shoes  and  stockings  and  walked  over 
the  coals.  That  was  a case  of  heroic  courage  on  the  part 
of  the  scientist;  he  was  not  burnt.  He  wanted  to  try  it 
over  but  I advised  him  to  leave  well  enough  alone. 

A student  of  occult  science  would  say  that  by  obtaining 
the  favor  of  this  Elemental  who  is  attached  to  the  individ- 
ual, and  has  been  placated  by  worship  and  offerings  a 
“koush,”  a fine  layer  of  impenetrable,  condensed  ether  is 
laid  over  the  fire,  invisible,  but  which  enables  the  person 
to  walk  with  safety  over  this  very  hot  bed  of  coals.  When 
the  priest  goes  away,  if  anyone  dares  to  walk  the  fire  he  is 
sure  to  be  burned. 

One  who  is  akin  to  the  Spirits  of  the  Air  or  Sylphs,  is 
the  one  who  climos  on  top  of  barns  or  trees,  and  who  be- 
comes a tight-rope  walker  or  balloonist.  They  are  never 
happy  unless  they  are  above  the  surface  of  the  earth. 

One  who  is  akin  to  the  Spirits  of  the  Water  is  attracted 
to  the  sea  and  has  the  best  chance  for  his  life  in  case  of 
shipwreck. 

NOW  I AM  STATING  these  things  to  you  here  without 
any  reserve,  because  I personally  know  they  are  true.  I 
have  told  you  what  I have  seen  done  by  a European,  un- 
tainted Avith  any  Oriental  blood,  walking  with  impunity  on 
a bed  of  coals. 

There  are  superstitions,  so-called,  among  the  Russians 
and  others,  that  a child  born  on  a certain  night  in  the  year 
has  a congenital  power  to  see  these  Elementals  of  the 
other  world;  they  are  friendly  with  them,  and  will  come 
and  play  with  them  like  living  children,  and  lead  them 
into  all  kinds  of  adventures. 

There  are  other  persons  who  have  the  power  of  discern- 
ing these  spirits,  and  some  can  attain  it  by  a short  course 
of  training.  These  Schools  of  Psychism  are  furnished  by 
our  Spiritualistic  circles.  The  development  of  medium- 
ship  implies  the  development  of  psychic  power,  where  the 
person  awakens  the  capacity  to  see  things  himself.  Now 
the  theory  upgn  which  the  man  can  go  into  the  domains  of 
these  different  Elementals  and  overcome  and  subjugate 
them,  is  that  he  is  possessed  of  the  divine  spark  which 
gives  him  natural  dominion  over  all  interior  races;  but 
if  it  happens  by  reason  of  his  bad  habits,  sickness  or  de- 


134 


THE  DANGERS  OF  PSYCHISM. 


bauchery  that  he  loses  the  strength  of  this  divine  spark, 
he  then  loses  gradually  his  power  over  these  elements  and 
finally  falls  their  victim.  Here  come  in  all  the  stories  you 
have  read  about  the  magician  who  has  been  carried  off  by 
the  devils  that  he  has  raised,  the  Greek  legend  of  Actaeon, 
who  was  slain  by  his  own  hounds. 

YOU  MAY  GET  THEM  to  bring  you  money  or  jewelry 
or  anything  you  like  for  your  own  profit  or  that  of  friends, 
but  you  have  to  put  yourself  under  obligations  to  them 
from  the  beginning,  and  they  are  slaves  that  become  mas- 
ters and  finally  they  will  not  obey  you,  but  they  take  do- 
minion over  you,  and  drive  you  to  the  last  extreme  of 
misery. 

When  I went  to  India  thirty  years  ago  there  was  a man, 
a Mohammedan,  who,  it  was  said,  had  obtained  from  his 
father  the  secret  of  control  over  a certain  band  of  Ele- 
mentals.  He  was  known  to  all  principal  European  officials 
there,  and  was  in  the  habit  of  frequenting  their  company. 
He  would  go  to  their  houses  and  at  their  request  he  would 
oring  them  things  that  they  would  ask  for — for  instance, 
fruits  out  of  season.  He  would  go  to  the  door  of  a room 
and  COMMAND  THEM  TO  BE  BROUGHT,  and  the  next 
moment  he  would  have  in  his  hand  what  was  asked  for. 
Sometimes  they  would  ask  for  a bottle  of  brandy  or 
whisky  or  beer;  whatever  they  asked  for  he  would  get  in 
the  same  simple  way. 

I knew. a man  on  whom  he  played  a very  nice  trick.  It 
had  been  said  this  man  had  only  to  touch  an  article  of 
gold  or  silver,  or  lock  it  up  in  a double  safe,  and  the  next 
moment  he  would  have  it  in  his  hand;  or  you  might  take 
a watch  or  a ring  and  tie  it  up  in  a handerchief  and  throw 
it  into  a great  well;  he  would  then  ask  you  where  you 
wanted  them,  and  you  would  say  you  wanted  the  watch  in 
such  a fruit  or  a tree.  He  would  ask  you  to  pick  the  fruit 
and  open  it,  and  there  would  be  the  object  that  you  sought 
for.  One  time  he  was  at  a bazaar  and  he  went  to  the  jew- 
elry shop  in  the  place  and  there  was  a display  of  gold  ob- 
jects of  different  sorts,  and  precious  stones.  He  took  one 
of  these  gold  canes  in  his  hand  and  put  it  down,  and  when 
he  got  home  he  ordered  the  elementals  to  bring  him  that 
cane;  they  did.  He  tried  that  once  too  often  and  he  was 
arrested.  They  found  the  stolen  articles;  he  was  tried, 
convicted  and  sent  to  prison,  and  died  in  prison. 

YOU  WILL  FIND  in  accounts  of  this  phenomenon  that 
when  a superior  is  locked  up  in  prison,  he  loses  his  i)ower; 
he  must  be  free  to  exercise  his  will.  In  the  case  of  this 
man  the  band  of  elementals  that  he  obtained  control  over 
from  his  father  gradually  deserted  him  until  finally  there 
was  only  one  left,  and  that  one  was  so  malicious  that  when 
he  brought  at  the  man’s  request  a bottle  of  brandy  it  w ould 


THE  DANGERS  OF  PSYCHISM. 


135 


be  thrown  at  liim,  and  he  had  to  throw  up  his  hands  to 
guard  his  face.  He  had  fallen  into  habits  of  degradation 
and  had  lost  his  power.  The  only  way  you  can  have  inter- 
course with  these  creatures  is  to  preserve  absolutely  your 
self-command  and  be  master  throughout. 

Sometimes  these  creatures  will  serve  their  masters  by 
finding  stolen  property  for  people.  Sometimes  they  will 
take  your  property  and  hide  it  ?!^vay  so  you  cannot  find  it, 
and  perhaps  you  will  have  to  search  everywhere,  and  then 
you  will  find  it  in  the  middle  of  the  floor  uncovered  in  full 
view.  There  is  a great  deal  of  literature  on  the  subject. 
Among  others  you  should  read  the  History  of  Magic,  in 
three  volumes.  The  author  gives  you  an  account  of  the 
magic  of  all  different  nations.  Among  other  things  they 
do,  statues  of  gods  would  suddenly  lose  their  weight  and 
float  in  the  air.  He  tells  of  a brass  statue  being  carried 
on  the  shoulders  of  a man  and  it  would  have  no  weight  at 
all;  and  then  some  small  object  would  be  endowed  with 
solid  weight  and  it  would  be  impossible  for  the  strongest 
man  to  lift  it. 

The  founder  of  the  great  school  of  Yogi  enumerates  six 
of  the  natural  powers,  so-called,  that  can  be  obtained  by 
man.  Among  other  things  are  the  endowing  objects  with 
extreme  lightness,  and  the  opposite,  enormous  weight. 

Before  the  Theosophical  Society  was  formed  I took  a no- 
tion to  look  into  Spiritualism,  which  I had  not  looked  at 
for  some  time,  and  I found  in  Vermont  there  was  a fam- 
ily having  remarkable  phenomena  of  materialization.  I 
thought  that  was  the  most  interesting  psychic  fact  of  the 
century,  and  I went  there  for  the  New  York  Daily  Herald. 

I stayed  there  two  months,  writing  many  weekly  letters 
which  produced  a great  sensation.  The  new  York  Herald 
said  I had  divided  attention  with  Grant.  The  perform-  * 
ances  took  place  in  the  presence  of  witnesses.  I had  with 
me  an  artist  who  had  made  sketches  of  everything. 

THE  CZAR  OF  RUSSIA  ordered  members  of  the  Royal 
Society  of  St.  Petersburg  to  make  investigation  and  to  get 
a medium  through  whom  phenomena  could  be  produced. 

A representative  of  the  professors  from  St.  Petersburg 
asked  me,  and  later  my  colleague,  Mme.  Blavatsky,  to  find 
for  them  a medium,  and  we  spent  a good  deal  of  time  look- 
ing for  them.  Finally  we  selected  Dr.  Slade.  After  three 
months  we  wrote  to  St.  Petersburg,  and  they  sent  money 
for  his  expenses  and  he  went  over  there. 

Among  the  experiments  that  I saw  made  in  the  pres- 
ence of  a medium  named  Young  was  this:  She  would  sit 
at  the  piano  and  play,  and  as  many  people  as  could  would 
sit  on  the  top  of  the  piano  and  around  it,  and  the  piano 
would  be  raised  and  keep  time  to  her  music.  She  would 
go  to  the  piano  and  put  her  hand  on  it  and  order  the  spir- 


136 


THE  DANGERS  OF  PSYCHISM. 


its  to  lift  it,  and  it  would  be  lifted.  I tried  an  experiment 
with  her  once.  I went  with  a raw  egg  in  my  pocket  and 
two  English  walnuts,  and  when  she  was  ready  to  do  the 
phenomena  I said:  “Will  you  allow  me  to  try  an  experi- 
ment? I want  to  hold  that  egg  in  my  hand  underneath 
the  square  piano  and  you  put  your  hand  under  mine  and 
order  the  piano  to  rise.” 

She  did  so,  the  piano  raised,  and  the  egg  in  my  hand 
without  breaking  it.  Then  I took  the  two  walnuts  and  1 
asked  her  to  have  the  spirits  raise  the  front  legs  of  the 
piano,  put  them  underneath,  and  ask  to  have  the  spirits  let 
the  legs  down  and  raise  them  just  touching  the  walnut 
shells  without  breaking  them.  She  did  that.  She  had  in 
her  nature  that  element  by  which  she  could  command  a 
manifestation  of  that  Principle  of  Lightness. 

Some  people  think  it  is  a most  desirable  thing  to  culti- 
vate the  faculties  of  second-sight  or  clairvoyance,  and 
clairaudience.  They  are  evidently  ignorant  of  the  nature 
of  the  things  that  they  are  undertaking,  or  the  enormous 
dangers  they  are  running — dangers  to  themselves  and  to 
others  in  devoting  themselves  to  the  cultivation  of  these 

psychic  faculties.  P , the  founder  of  the  school  of 

Yogi,  enumerates  the  different  supernatural  powers,  and 
warns  us  not  to  cultivate  them,  because  he  says  they  will 
develop  themselves  in  the  progress  of  a man’s  develop- 
ment; that  vanity  and  curiosity  will  lead  him  away  from 
the  straight  course  that  leads  him  to  the  attainment  of  su- 
preme knowledge. 

THE  BUDDHA,  who  was  recognized  as  one  of  the  great- 
est adepts,  expressly  forbade  his  disomies  to  show  these 
phenomena.  He  acknowledged  they  could  attain  noto- 
riety, but  warned  them  against  the  danger  of  showing 
them.  It  is  related  that  one  time  he  was  coming  to  a 
place  where  some  of  his  disciples  were  gathered  and  a man 
came  along  with  a begging  bowl,  an  article  of  price,  quite 
contrary  to  the  religion  prescribed  for  the  ascetic  monks, 
and  he  put  it  on  top  of  a tall  pole.  He  said  he  would  give 
it  to  any  monk  who  would  be  able  to  raise  from  the 
ground  and  take  it.  Just  before  he  got  there  one  of  the 
disciples  did  it.  The  Buddha  caused  the  bowl  to  be 
broken  and  gave  orders  that  they  should  never  exhibit 
these  powers. 

These  powers  can  be  used  for  beneficial  purposes 
sometimes.  It  is  affirmed  that  it  is  possible  to  do  the 
thing,  the  so-called  miracle,  which  is  described  in  the 
Bible,  the  miracle  of  the  loaves  and  fishes;  that  having  a 
certain  amount  of  grain  as  a nucleus  they  can  draw  from 
the  ether  enough  material  of  the  same  kind  and  cause  a 
duplication  of  this  grain,  so  in  time  of  famine  food  can  be 
obtained.  I think  that  the  miracles  described  in  the  Bible 


THE  DANGERS  OF  PSYCHISM. 


137 


have  been  duplicated,  except  in  the  case  of  raising  a per- 
son from  the  dead. 

Among  the  powers  that  a person  can  have  that  are  per- 
fectly beneficent  is  the  power  of  healing  the  sick.  You 
can  relieve  human  suffering  and  do  good  without  the  least 
harm  to  yourself,  on  the  condition  you  do  not  do  it  for 
money.  You  remember  the  story  in  the  Bible  where  Simon 
the  sorcerer  came  to  Peter  and  Paul  and  offered  them  a 
large  sum  of  money  for  them  to  teach  him  to  heal.  He 
was  told,  “Thy  gifts  perish  with  thee.”  Such  gifts  cannot 
be  bought  for  gold  or  silver.  If  you  can  keep  the  PRIN- 
CIPLE OP  UNSELFISHNESS,  you  can  use  this  divine 
power  for  the  good  of  mankind  or  your  neighbor,  but  if 
you  give  yourself  up  to  it  for  the  sake  of  making  money, 
there  is  a taint  of  selfishness  and  influence  that  you  draw 
about  you  that  will  in  time  play  you  some  trick. 

One  time  near  Colombo  I began  healing  the  sick.  I 
had  done  it  before  and  understood  the  science.  The  cures 
were  so  surprising  and  numerous  that  the  people  followed 
me  around  and  locked  up  their  roads,  and  I saw  the  peo- 
ple. There  was  among  the  cases  that  came  there  one  that 
illustrated  the  necessity  of  using  the  power  with  a benev- 
olent spirit.  There  came  to  me  among  other  sick  people 
one  who  was  half  paralyzed.  I took  hold  of  him;  in  half 
an  hour  I cured  the  paralysis  of  his  arm.  Then  I told  him 
to  sit  down.  I was  tired  and  wanted  to  rest  a little 
while.  While  he  was  sitting  there  they  said  he  was  a rich 
man,  a miser.  He  had  spent  1,500  rupees  without  get- 
ting relief. 

IF  THERE  IS  ANYTHING  that  is  loathsome  to  a stu- 
dent of  occult  science  it  is  selfishness.  There  is  soine- 
tliing  so  degrading  to  use  these  i)owers  for  the  sake  of 
money.  I said,  “Take  him  away,  I don’t  want  to  see  him 
any  more.  Y^ou  may  tell  him  he  has  his  arm  cured  with- 
out any  cost,  and  see  if  he  can  get  his  leg  cured.” 

Then  they  importuned  me  not  to  send  him  away.  After 
much  persuasion  I said,  “Bring  him  here.”  They  brought 
him,  and  I cured  his  leg  so  that  he  could  move  it  like  the 
other!  he  could  hop  on  it.  I was  making  tours  at  that 
time,  and  went  away.  Two  weeks  later  I came  back  in 
that  same  district.  Among  other  cases  I inquired  about 
this  man.  They  said,  “His  arm  remains  cured,  but  his 
leg  has  relapsed.”  The  explanation  was  that  when  I 
treated  his  arm  I had  only  a benevolent  impulse.  When 
I treated  the  leg  I forced  myself  to  use  my  power.  There 
was  not  that  sympathy  for  him  which  made  the  vibrations 
of  the  nervous  system  to  correspond,  therefore  the  cure 
was  not  permanent,  only  a temporary  local  stimulus. 

After  going  from  Ceylon  to  Calcutta  I was  obliged  in  re- 
sponse to  public  clamor  to  go  on  with  the  healing  art.  1 


138 


THE  DANGERS  OF  PSYCHISM. 


did  not  want  to  do  it,  it  took  too  much  time.  Finally  I 
was  persuaded  to  do  so.  The  first  thing  I did  was  to  cure 
a man  of  blindness;  it  was  a hardening  of  the  optic  nerve, 
which  makes  a man  stone  blind,  and  very  difficult  to  cure. 
I did  not  know  of  the  difficulty.  I simply  went  to  work 
and  cured  him  in  ten  treatments.  He  could  read  the  small 
type  in  a newspaper.  Finally  it  got  into  the  newspapers. 
One  day  an  European  came  and  asked  permission  to  stop 
and  see  my  cures.  He  introduced  himself  as  the  chief  of 
a special  mission  of  graduates  that  had  been  organized 
by  the  University  of  Oxford,  and  sent  out  to  India  to  con- 
vert the  high  class  Brahmins  whom  the  ordinary  variety 
of  missionaries  had  no  influence  with  at  all.  So  he 
stopped  to  see  me,  and  Anally  when  I drove  away  the  peo- 
ple he  said: 

‘T  tell  you  frankly,  I never  would  have  believed  it  if  I 
had  not  seen  it  with  my  own  eyes.” 

I said,  “What  did  you  see?  Is  not  the  very  same 
thing  described  in  the  Bible  as  done  by  the  apostles?” 

“Yes.” 

“They  are  called  miracles?” 

“Yes.” 

“Any  man  of  good  will  power  who  has  studied  the  sci- 
ence as  a science  can  exercise  this  power.  Why  should 
you  want  me  to  believe  the  so-called  miracles?  If  their 
works  are  miracles  then  mine  is  a miracle;  if  theirs  was 
not  a miracle  then  mine  is  not.” 

He  made  a most  ingenious  evasion.  He  said:  “It  seems 
possible  our  Lord  did  the  miracles  through  the  human  side 
of  his  nature.” 

NOW  A3IONG  THE  GIFTS  that  are  developed  is  second 
sight  or  clairvoyance.  Some  people  thiiilt  that  if  a person 
has  got  clairvoyance  he  must  be  extremely  pure  and  ad- 
vanced spiritually.  That  is  absolutely  false,  and  the  pos- 
session of  none  of  these  gifts  is  any  proof  whatever  of  such 
a condition  of  affairs.  I have  known  persons  immoral,  un- 
truthful and  unprincipled  to  have  these  powers;  and,  in 
fact,  I could  tell  you  stories  which  are  not  fit  for  a mixed 
audience  that  would  astonish  you  and  show  you  that  some- 
times these  powers  are  only  available  when  the  person  has 
degraded  himself  by  resort  to  some  vicious  habit. 

If  you  look  at  book  on  Genius  and  Insanity  you 

will  find  long  lists  of  public  men,  artists,  sculptors,  pub- 
lishers, soldiers,  musicians,  who  have  been  addicted  to 
these  immoral  habits.  You  know  our  brilliant  poet  Poe 
always  did  his  best  when  he  was  drunk.  You  know  some 
of  the  greatest  actors  on  the  stage  have  been  unable  to 
play  up  to  the  mark  unless  they  were  steeped  in  liquor;  so 
that  I repeat,  the  possession  of  these  faculties  is  no  proof 
whatever  of  spiritual  advancement.  It  is  the  ignorance 


THE  DANGERS  OP  PSYCHISM. 


139 


of  this  side  of  the  matter  that  makes  many  have  such  mis- 
taken views.  There  is  only  one  way  of  gaining  spiritual 
knowledge  and  that  is  by  LEADING  A SPIRITUAL  LIFE, 
AND  BY  CONTROLLING  THE  LOWER  NATURE  AND 
ENCOURAGING  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OP  THE  HIGHER 
FACULTIES. 

There  are  some  nations  that  inherit  some  of  these  gifts. 
For  instance,  Highlanders  have  second  sight.  Usually  a 
man  forms  a prevision  of  death;  he  will  see  a shroud  com- 
ing up  from  the  feet  of  a person  near  the  time  of  his  de- 
cease. Usually  it  comes  out  exactly  as  foretold. 

By  this  possible  unfolding  you  are  entering  into  a new 
world  without  any  map  or  guide  or  landmark;  you  know 
absolutely  nothing  of  the  course  you  have  to  follow.  Con- 
sequently you  make  yourselves  passive  or  mediums. 

THERE  IS  NOT  a greater  falsehood  than  the  assertion 
that  mediumship  is  conducive  to  the  development  of  adept- 
ship.  Adept  means  the  superior  normal  possession  of  will 
power  and  knowledge  of  the  highest  side  of  nature  and 
the  power  to  control  its  operations  on  a limited  scale, 
whereas  mediumship  means  the  giving  oneself  passively  to 
the  control  of  unknown  forces.  A person  sits  down  in  a 
circle  ignorant  of  the  conditions  of  mediumship,  perhaps 
sensitive,  and  like  a psychic  sponge  he  absorbs  the  influ- 
ences about  the  medium.  A person  coming  into  that  cir- 
cle from  a scene  of  debauch  brings  with  him  very  bad  in- 
fluences, and  as  the  medium  and  other  sensitives  present 
cannot  choose  as  to  what  they  will  receive,  they  absorb 
the  bad  influences  and  bad  results  follow. 

Constant  repetition  of  phenomena  leads  ultimately  to 
satiety.  I have  been  told  since  I came  here  that  in  Chi- 
cago itself  there  is  a sense  of  disruption  among  the  Spir- 
itualists. That  this  is  in  the  air  of  Spiritualism  is  well 
known.  It  is  easy  to  account  for  that.  They  have  gone 
on  year  after  year  with  a surfeit  of  phenomena,  unable  to 
account  for  any  of  it  scientifically,  and  getting  the  teach- 
ing which,  however  well  it  may  be  expressed,  is  after  all 
unsatisfactory,  incomplete.  It  has  but  one  side.  There  is 
nothing  in  its  philosophy  to  provide  for  a system  of  com- 
pensation or  punishment  for  misdeeds.  Persons  go  on  out 
of  the  body  just  as  they  are  at  the  moment  of  death, 
climbing  up  the  golden  stair  until  they  arrive  at  a state 
of  beatitude.  That  does  not  satisfy  the  reasonable  man, 
the  man  who  reads  treatises  upon  philosophy  and  science. 
By  and  by  he  gets  tired  of  it.  That  is  the  reason  why  so 
many  hundreds  and  thousands  of  persons  come  into  The- 
osophy from  Spiritualism.  I myself  led  the  way.  I was 
familiar  with  Spiritualism  for  twenty  years  before  I knew 
about  the  Eastern  philosophy.  I found  I had  acquired  a 
knowledge  in  various  researches  in  Psychism  which  made 


140 


THE  DANGERS  OF  PSYCHISM. 


me  understand  the  Eastern  science  when  expounded  by 
Mme.  Blavatsky. 

The  yearning  to  know  something  about  life  beyond  the 
veil,  the  desire  to  penetrate  into  the  future  if  possible,  the 
wish  to  have  messages  from  departed  friends,  the  wish  to 
know  something  about  lost  property  or  lost  relatives,  all 
these  things  impel  a person  to  seek  the  nearest  source  of 
information  on  the  subject,  so  they  go  to  paid  mediums, 
and  get  sometimes  the  worth  of  their  money,  and  some- 
times not.  Although  I have  seen  hundreds  and  thousands, 
and  a large  part  of  the  phenomena  of  mediumship  is  real 
and  reconcilable  with  scientific  explanation,  I make  an  in- 
dividual rule  to  start  with  each  new  case,  as  though  an 
open  question  whether  the  phenomena  were  honest  or 
dishonest,  and  I collect  my  evidence  in  such  a way  as  to 
exclude  the  chance  of  fraud.  That  is  the  only  way  you 
can  do  with  any  surety  at  all. 

THE  HINDOOS  have  a system  of  telegraphy,  wireless 
telegraphy,  between  the  dead  and  living  members  of  the 
family  which  is  very  interesting.  In  India  swarms  of 
crows  are  flying,  and  pick  up  every  article  of  food  to  be 
found.  It  is  understood  between  the  dead  man  and  his 
family  that  they  will  ijerform  this  ceremony.  • Hindoos  be- 
lieve that  after  death  a man  sleeps  for  a certain  time,  lies 
perfectly  unconscious,  awakens  from  that;  in  the  case  of 
the  high-class  man  who  has  presumably  had  some  spirit- 
ual training,  in  a very  short  period,  in  the  low  class  man  or 
laboring  man,  it  is  longer. 

At  the  appointed  time,  according  to  the  caste  of  person, 
the  housewife  makes  a bowl  of  rice  and  they  will  put  it 
down  on  the  ground.  Then  the  family  withdraw  to  a lit- 
tle distance  and  wait  to  see  if  the  crows  will  swoop  down 
and  pick  up  the  food.  If  they  do  not  do  this,  they  know 
the  dead  man  is  there,  hidden  from  them,  but  watching 
and  preventing  the  crows  who  have  seen  him,  from  com- 
ing in.  Then  the  head  of  the  family  comes  forth  and  asks 
various  things  to  know  what  the  man  wants,  because  they 
believe  no  person  will  linger  near  the  earth  unless  he  has 
an  unsatisfied  yearning  for  something  to  be  granted.  If 
they  don’t  ask  the  right  thing,  the  crows  don’t  take  away 
the  rice. 

So  they  go  on  until  they  hit  upon  the  thing  the  man 
wants,  then  the  crows  take  the  rice,  and  they  know  what 
the  dead  man  wants.  Sometimes  the  dead  man  wants 
them  to  make  a pilgrimage  to  some  sacred  shrine;  then  it 
is  agreed  between  the  deceased  and  his  family  when  the 
party  shall  go  and  make  the  offerings  at  the  temple.  They 
make  offerings  of  rice  bowls  and  oil  and  such  things,  and 
the  dead  man  signifies  his  satisfaction  by  breaking  off  the 
branch  of  a tree  near  the  house.  But  they  never  disturb 


THE  DANGERS  OP  PSYCHISM. 


141 


them  after  that.  They  consider  it  horrifying  to  disturb 
the  repose  of  the  dead.  They  believe  that  the  dead  pass 
on  to  their  natural  sphere.  They  never  cultivate  inter- 
course between  the  dead  and  living — the  educated  and 
high  minded.  That  specialty  of  necromancy  is  confined  to 
the  lowest  class  of  people.  I have  seen  the  thing  per- 
formed, and  it  is  not  a very  edifying  sight,  I assure  you — 
a wild  dance  and  burning  different  things  on  a tray,  and 
chanting  and  screaming. 

THEY  TRY  TO  HELP  the  dead  through  their  different 
phases  from  the  time  of  leaving  the  body  until  they  obtain 
liberation.  That  ghostly  ceremony  is  performed  the  first 
year  and  every  year  for  a certain  number  of  years,  on  the 
anniversary  of  the  person’s  death;  and  they  recite  in  their 
prayers  for  liberation  the  names  of  ancestors,  in  the  case 
of  Brahmins  extending  to  seven  or  eight  generations. 
Everything  is  intended  to  facilitate  the  progress  of  the 
spirit  of  man,  and  all  the  teachings  of  all  the  religious 
writers  inculcate  the  idea  of  having  domination  over  the 
lower  nature  and  acquiring  the  development  of  spiritual 
faculties. 

Unfortunately  the  students  of  psychism  in  our  country 
and  some  of  the  Western  countries  are  not  guided  at  all 
by  common  sense.  The  key  is  the  exercise  of  common 
sense.  I tell  you  now  that  a man  that  enters  into  this  re- 
search must  always  keep  his  consciousness  and  his  will 
power,  so  that  if,  for  example,  he  is  transported  from  this 
physical  plane  to  another  and  is  confronted  by  some  hor- 
rible tribe  of  Elementals,  he  must  always  maintain  that  he 
is  master,  and  however  he  is  terrified,  they  cannot  come 
near  him;  he  is  clothed  with  armor  impenetrable  to  the 
evil  spirits.  And  while  it  is  extremely  interesting  to  see 
all  phenomena,  it  is  most  imprudent  for  the  person  to  give 
himself  up  to  experiment  upon.  This  holds  good  in  re- 
gard to  mesmerism  and  hypnotism.  Great  danger  can  be 
run  in  the  practice  of  these  things. 

I HAVE  SEEN  EXPERIMENTS  in  the  great  auditorium 
in  Paris  by  Charcot  and  others.  I saw  two  cases  where 
crime  was  suggested  to  the  patients  and  immediately  they 
were  ready  to  commence  the  execution  of  it.  When  we 
were  coming  from  the  hospital,  he  said  absolutely  they 
would  have  done  the  thing  suggested  if  let  alone,  because 
the  moral  sense  was  perverted,  paralyzed.  There  you  see 
in  proportion  to  your  sensitiveness  is  your  danger.  You 
may  be  taken  possession  of  by  some  malicious  power  which 
will  make  you  do  anything  he  likes. 

How  many  people  are  arrested  for  stealing  where  there 
is  no  reason  whatever;  positive  minded,  they  cannot  keep 
their  hands  off;  the  temptation  to  take  the  property  of 
their  neighbor  cannot  be  resisted.  Look  at  the  homicidal 


142 


THE  DANGERS  OP  PSYCHISM. 


mania,  whole  communities  swept  by  waves  of  suicide,  or 
murder.  A noted  writer  has  said  that  the  impulse  to 
crime  is  always  waiting  beneath  the  surface  for  develop- 
ment, and  great  notoriety  of  crime  invariably  leads  to  im- 
itation. Notoriety  was  once  given  a dealer  who  had  sold 
a pistol  to  a murderer  who  had  committed  an  atrocious 
murder  with  it.  This  dealer  was  applied  to  by  about 
twenty  people  for  a pistol  of  the  same  kind. 

There  was  once  an  epidemic  of  suicide  on  the  gallows  in 
London,  which  was  stopped  by  drastic  measures  adopted 
by  a judge  from  the  bench.  One  time  in  the  history  of 
Crete  the  ladies  took  a notion  to  commit  suicide,  some  of 
the  most  beautiful  women.  That  was  stopped  by  a judge 
who  made  the  proclamation  that  the  next  woman  who 
committed  suicide  should  be  carried  naked  through  the 
streets.  The  thing  immediately  stopped. 

In  other  words,  it  is  a thing  you  cannot  dabble  with 
with  impunity. 

THE  ONLY  WAY  by  which  you  can  go  into  these  studies 
with  reasonable  certainty  of  not  coming  to  grief,  is  to 
make  them  under  the  advice  of  a person  advanced  in  the 
science  who  has  these  faculties  developed,  and  who,  if  you 
go  out  of  the  body  and  get  onto  the  other  planes,  can 
watch  and  ward  off  danger.  I am  told  by  those  who  know, 
that  through  the  ether  are  always  flowing  currents,  and 
along  these  currents  flow  the  elemental  forces,  and  when  a 
person  clothed  in  the  astral  body  attempts  to  go  to  a cer- 
tain place,  when  he  comes  through  these  currents,  if  he  is 
not  strong  enough  to  keep  out  he  is  swept  away  like  a 
leaf  engulfed  by  all  kinds  of  bad  influences.  Not  only 
that,  but  while  in  the  body  you  may  be  subject  to  influ- 
ences which  make  people  think  you  insane,  or  may  develop 
mania. 

The  Burmese  believe  there  is  a spiritual  body  that  goes 
out  of  the  body  of  a man  when  he  is  asleep;  and  so  if  you 
call  at  any  gentleman’s  house  when  he  is  asleep  you  have 
to  wait  until  he  awakes.  A servant  would  not  dare  to 
call  his  master  for  fear  this  wandering  spirit  might  not 
get  back  into  the  body  in  time  and  the  man  might  die. 

A great  fleld  of  research  is  open  in  this  department  of 
nature,  a fleld  which  requires  no  belief  in  miracles  or  any- 
thing supernatural.  Whatever  appears  appears  according 
to  law,  and  one  has  only  to  obey  that  in  his  mind,  and  keep 
always  the  conviction  that  he  is  the  master,  to  go  on  suc- 
cessfully and  attain  the  knowledge  he  wants. 

In  experimenting  with  the  properties  of  matter,  the 
reproduction  of  objects  is  effected,  as  I told  you,  by  the 
agency  of  these  elemental  spirits  acting  upon  matter.  For 
as  you  know,  everything  that  is  solid  in  nature  has  come 
out  of  the  ether,  and  everything  possible  in  the  world 


THE  DANGERS  OF  PSYCHISM. 


143 


exists  in  an  invisible  form,  a higher  form  of  existence,  so 
that  you  can  perform  duplications  of  this  class  by  using 
an  object  as  a nucleus.  The  particles  of  the  object  are 
held  together  by  the  attraction  of  cohesion;  operating  on 
that  and  antagonistic  to  it  is  the  attraction  of  space,  the 
centrifugal  force;  the  force  on  which  it  is  planned,  holds 
together  these  particles,  but  you  can  take  away  this  pro- 
tection and  there  will  remain  differentiated  matter. 

ANOTHER  THING  in  regard  to  the  mind,  we  have  no 
idea  of  the  scope  or  the  nature  of  mind.  We  are  very  ig- 
norant indeed  about  all  these  departments  of  initial  sci- 
ence; but  those  who  have  studied  it  say  that  mind  is  a 
force,  and  that  it  is  the  master  force  of  the  universe,  and 
that  as  you  possess  a quality,  the  same  force  that  exists  in 
the  universe  is  the  whole,  the  all.  You  have  only  got  to 
use  that  under  the  control  and  direction  of  intelligent  will 
to  produce  exactly  the  thing  you  want,  and  then  you  will 
produce  the  same  object,  and  that  object  will  be  temporary 
or  permanent,  as  you  choose  to  have  or  not  to  have  the  at- 
traction to  the  object  that  you  have  created. 

I suppose  that  if  we  could  look  at  the  inmates  of  our 
insane  asylums  we  would  find  a considerable  portion  of 
them  have  been  brought  there  by  the  EFFECT  OF  UN- 
SEEN INFLUENCES,  AND  THE  PERSON  WHO  REALLY 
KNEW  THE  SCIENCE  COULD  RESTORE  THEM  TO 
SANITY  BY  CAUSING  THE  MIND,  THE  UNBALANCED 
MIND  TO  RESUME  ITS  NORMAL  FUNCTION.  Hysteria, 
a most  mysterious  disease,  is  due  to  a perversion  of  the 
moral  sense,  and  one  so  afflicted  must  have  a pedestal  to 
stand  upon,  and  failing  to  attract  sufficient  notoriety  will 
accuse  themselves  of  crimes  they  are  innocent  of,  merely 
to  get  notoriety,  a lowering  of  the  moral  sense,  a thing  so 
prevalent  that  it  is  a great  danger  to  society. 

Now,  of  course,  this  is  a subject  that  is  inexhaustible. 
It  would  take  a number  of  lectures  to  traverse  the  field 
generally.  The  one  word  that  I want  to  say  to-night  is 
that  PSYCHISM  IS  FULL  OF  DANGER;  that  a person  can 
not  without  running  great  risk  undertake  the  study  of  it. 
You  may  read  about  it,  but  if  you  attempt  to  make  the 
practical  experiment  you  immediately  run  the  great  danger 
of  exposing  yourself  to  deadly  influences  as  bad  as  a pesti- 
lence or  death,  that  circulate  about  you.  Never  desert 
your  common  sense.  Never  believe  the  stories  that  are 
told  to  you  without  corroboration  or  without  their  finding 
an  explanation  in  what  is  known  to  science.  And  again, 
if  you  happen  to  have  any  of  these  powers  naturally,  never 
use  them  FOR  ANY  SELFISH  PURPOSE.  So  keep  your- 
self clear  from  all  entangling  alliances  with  those  who 
should  be  the  slaves  of  man  but  who  are  most  dangerous 
creatures  if  allowed  to  become  his  master. 


THE  DANGERS  OF  PSYCHISM. 


K Lecture  Delivered  by  Miss  Elizabeth  Harlow  Be- 
fore the  Rising  Sun  Mission  of 
Chicago,  Illinois. 


The  thought  that  has  been  ascribed  to  us  is  one  of  great 
value,  especially  at  this  period  of  the  development  of  the 
mind  of  man.  There  has  come  a cry  in  your  midst  that 
there  is  great  danger  in  the  development  of  the  soul  quali- 
ties and  activities,  for  psychism  but  means  the  ability  to 
sense  through  the  soul,  functioning  direct,  soul-sensing  of 
soul-life,  independent  of  the  lower  activities  of  nature 
known  as  the  physical  structure  of  man. 

WE  HAVE  LEARNED  ere  this  that  there  are  dangers  in 
every  department  of  life.  It  makes  no  difference  in  what 
department,  we  take  ourselves,  we  find  that  there  are  dan- 
gers, in  so  far  as  we  are  not  fully  acquainted  with  and 
master  of  the  situation.  It  has  been  and  is  still  the  same 
old  whip-lash,  danger,  to  keep  the  race  under  the  power 
that  now  is;  to  hold  man  within  the  precincts  that  now 
are.  Thus  we  would  say  unto  you,  come  out  from  under 
the  whip-lash  of  fear  in  any  manner,  and  come  to  know 
yourselves.  Robert  Ingersoll  once  said  that  fear  was  the 
DUNGEON  OF  THE  SOUL,  and  no  truer  saying  was  ever 
uttered.  So  long  as  man  dwells  in  fear,  so  long  is  he  sub- 
merging the  great  vital  forces  that  are  his,  and  his  for  use. 
Man  is  a great  primity,  and  is  here  in  this  sphere  of  life 
to  become  somewhat  acquainted  with  these  departments  of 
his  being  and  come  to  know  something  of  their  great  uses, 
not  only  to  himself  but  to  his  associates. 

Man  as  a physical  being  is  simply  an  automatic  ma- 
chine governed  and  controlled  by  the  great  eternal  and  in- 
evitable “must.”  You  may  call  it  fate.  You  may  call  it 
God.  You  may  call  it  energy.  You  may  call  it  what  you 
please,  but  it  simply  is  summed  up  in  that  little  word 
“must.”  The  great  automatic  man  must  obey  the  laws 
that  be  and  are  and  of  him. 


146 


THE  DANGERS  OF  PSYCHISM. 


We  find  that  man  the  thinker,  the  next  great  step  and 
department,  the  mind-man,  becomes  sometning  of  a mas- 
ter. He  becomes  something  of  a director.  He  becomes 
something  of  a teacher.  He  comes  into  possessions  that 
cannot  be  taken  from  him.  Thus  we  find  that  in  this 
realm  there  is  a light,  a hope,  a satisfaction  that  in  the 
lower  realm  of  our  beings  does  not  exist.  In  the  realm  of 
the  intellect,  in  the  realm  of  understanding,  in  the  realm 
of  knowledge  we  are  not  fated  but  by  becoming  the  mas- 
ters of  our  own  fate. 

And  still  we  find  there  is  another  department  of  this 
wonderful  creature  man,  and  it  is  that  great  inner  pre'- 
cinct;  it  is  that  eternal  altar  through  which  the  fires  of 
life  burn  for  eternity.  That  is  the  great  soul  man;  that 
is  the  poise  of  the  eternal  entity  that  shall  survive  and 
master  and  still  stand  in  the  supremacy  of  all  that  is,  that 
shall  touch  or  border  upon  the  lines  of  his  being. 

MAN  THE  SOUL  IS  A GOD.  Man  the  soul  is  master  of 
himself,  is  an  Intellectual  God,  if  you  please;  and  man  the 
great  intellectual  soul-god  is  king  of  all  conditions,  of  all 
relations,  and  therefore  is  at  peace  and  there  is  no  danger. 
But  ere  he  gains  this,  starting  as  he  does  in  the  great  auto- 
matic realm  of  things  he  climbs  the  ladder  slowly,  step  by 
step  up  the  ladder  of  experience  and  through  the  gateway 
of  pain  does  he  come  to  know  of  these  departments  and 
their  summing  up. 

And  we  find  that  it  is  only  in  the  psychic  realm,  if  you 
please,  that  man  has  ever  caught  sight  of  the  next  great 
step  to  be  taken  in  his  existence,  in  his  living,  acting  asso- 
ciations that  now  are  his.  There  is  not  a single  instance 
of  a progressive  move  that  has  not  been  touched  and  asso- 
ciated with  psychic  revelation  and  psychic  experience. 
There  is  not  a single  religious  cult  in  existence  that  history 
can  bring  forward  that  is  not  the  sum  of  some  mighty  me- 
diumistic  qualification  and  experience  gained  thereby. 

RIGHT  HERE,  MY  FRIENDS,  we  wish  to  call  your  at- 
tention to  the  fact  that  there  is  a difference  between  me- 
diumship  and  psychic  development.  This  has  been  one  of 
the  confusions  amongst  the  minds  and  acts  of  men  to-day. 
Mediumship  simply  means  to  be  an  instrument  in  the 
hands  of  other  intelligences.  An  individual  who  has  me- 
diumistic  qualities  must  make  up  his  mind  to  a greater  or 
less  extent  to  be  a machine,  and  he  can  be  nothing  less. 
But  you  can  have  your  choice,  if  you  so  demand,  and  as- 
sert yourselves,  as  to  what  extent  and  in  what  degree  that 
shall  occur  and  shall  continue  to  occur. 

Mediumship  as  you  know  it  and  as  it  has  forever  ex- 
pressed itself,  is  where  three  individuals  meet;  one  the 
questioner,  one  the  internreter  and  one  the  sender.  The 
medium  is  the  one  that  sits  between,  and  is  used  as  an  in- 


THE  DANGERS  OF  PSYCHISM. 


147 


terpreter.  Thus  you  find  that  mediumship  becomes  the 
machinery  between  the  two  circles  of  acting  life  that  has 
welded  and  brought  together  humanity  in  an  understand- 
ing of  the  continuities  of  life.  This  came  to  you  unsought 
and  unlooked  for.  Why  history  has  records  along  the 
lines  of  its  happenings  and  of  its  workings  showing  that 
it  is  no  especial  law,  that  it  is  no  new  revelation;  that  it 
is  nothing  that  is  peculiar  to  this  generation,  but  is  a law 
of  nature;  that  there  is  born  now  and  then  a generation  of 
men  that  have  within  them  this  qualification  by  which 
they  can  be  used  as  machines  between  the  two  spheres  of 
existence. 

Now  these  machines  have  been  used  in  all  times  for  the 
betterment  of  mankind.  And  you  will  find  that  those 
who  can  be  used  must  have  been  taken  spontaneously,  for 
here  we  find  again  the  law  of  the  spirit  works  sponta- 
neously. 

YOU  DO  NOT  FIND  the  spirit  world  or  the  realm  of  na- 
ture working  according  to  text-books  or  according  to 
square  rules  laid  down  by  man,  but  she  works  and  they 
work  in  a spontaneous  manner  which  simply  means  that 
when  the  relationship  and  conditions  associated  with  these 
relations  are  right,  then  the  result  follows.  And  so  we 
find  that  the  greatest  inediums  of  the  world  have  been 
mediums  who  have  been  sought  out  by  the  spirit  realm; 
that  have  been  taken,  so  to  speak,  in  spite  of  themselves, 
and  have  been  used  for  good. 

You  do  not  find  among  a spontaneous  class  any  great  ' 
dangers  occurring,  nor  no  records  of  any  that  have  oc- 
curred. Your  oldest  mediums  in  Modern  Spiritualism,  the 
most  efficient  mediums  in  Modern  Spiritualism  who  have 
stood  before  the  final- test  of  intellect,  of  prejudice,  of  i 
dogmas  and  of  scientific  analysis  have  been  of  this  class, 
and  they  have  proven  worthy,  thus  showing  that  the  in- 
telligences that  sought  them  out  were  of  a high  order. 
Those  who  used  them  were  of  a high  moral  character. 
Those  vho  sought  to  awaken  humanity  were  seeking  for 
the  good  and  the  progress  of  the  mortal  spheres,  and  they 
have  accomplished  it,  for  since  the  advent  of  Modern  Spir- 
itualism the  whole  moral  tenor  of  the  world  has  been 
changed;  the  entire  intellectual  grasp  has  been  tightened; 
the  entire  moral  sway  of  consciousness  has  been  intensi- 
fied until  to-day  all  life  is  taking  on  an  intensity  in  its 
hopes,  in  its  ideals  and  its  aspirations  that  has  not  been 
recorded  before.  When  we  turn  to  the  past  we  find  there 
have  been  individuals,  there  have  been  classes;  but  to-day 
we  find  it  is  not  one  individual,  it  is  not  a few  individuals, 
it  is  not  one  class,  it  is  not  one  nation,  but  old  Mother 
Earth  is  stirred  with  the  throbs  of  light,  with  a hope  and 
aspiration  that  has  never  touched  upon  the  entirety  of 


148 


THE  DANGERS  OP  PSYCHISM. 


man  as  it  does  to-day,  thus  proving  to  you  that  medium- 
ship  is  of  service,  is  of  divine  service,  and  hath  Avithin  the 
power  to  lift  instead  of  degrade. 

NOW  WHERE  OUR  DANGERS  COME;  it  is  here:  Be- 
cause you  do  not  understand  the  difference  between  medi- 
umship  and  psychic  development.  The  thought  has  been 
set  forth  by  many  that  every  individual  was  a medium. 
This  is  a mistaken  position  and  proposition.  Every  indi- 
vidual is  no  more  a medium  than  every  individual  is  a 
musician.  Neither  is  every  individual  capable  of  develop- 
ing high  artistic  qualities  of  sculpture  or  painting.  But 
there  are  those  here  and  there  that  are  born  with  peculiar 
organizations,  that  peculiar  chemical  combination  and 
nervous  tension  that  produce  about  them  a peculiar  aura 
that  the  spirit  world  can  use  in  a diversity  of  ways  and 
manners.  This  has  been  used  and  is  being  used  and 
brings  to  you  the  variety  of  phenomenal  results  that  have 
proven  to  the  world  that  man  lives  and  lives  in  some- 
what finer  relations  on  the  other  side  of  the  doorway 
known  as  death. 

YOU  HAVE  AS  WELL  what  you  term  mental  medium- 
ship.  This  calls  for  a peculiar  brain  formation,  a peculiar 
brain  quality  and  tension.  And  from  this  realm  has  come 
to  you  the  great  teachings  of  its  philosophy;  has  come  to 
you  as  well  its  great  systems  and  revelations  that  have 
brought  to  the  world  the  new  thought  of  life,  the  new  ad- 
justment of  life  in  every  condition  and  relation.  It  is 
mental  mediumship  that  has  established  the  great  philos- 
ophy of  life  from  its  natural  basis.  You  have  no  books 
previous  to  Andrew  Jackson  Davis*  Divine  Revelations  that 
gave  you  a philosophy  of  life  from  a natural  basis  that  had 
a determined  fact  in  them. 

From  that  time  on  there  has  grown  the  different  philos- 
ophies that  have  been  and  are  being  taught  under  the  dif- 
ferent names,  which  are  many;  but  you  will  find  the  grain 
of  truth  that  every  one  possesses  came  from  mental  medi- 
umship. Now  you  have  had  only  one  Davis;  you  have  had 
only  one  Ingersoll;  you  have  had  only  one  Hudson  Tuttle; 
you  have  had  only  one  William  Cullen  Bryant.  And  thus 
we  find  that  these  cases  are  few  and  far  between.  But  out 
of  it  has  been  developed  a power  of  such  strength  that  it 
has  taken  you  fifty  or  more  years  to  gather  even  the  frag- 
ments of  the  truth  that  are  therein  contained. 

THUS  WE  FIND  that  mediumship  is  something  born 
within  the  individual;  it  is  not  something  made,  not  some 
development  of  the  senses,  and  not  every  individual  can 
develop  mediumship.  But  we  find  on  the  other  hand  that 
every  human  being  is  a soul  entity.  Every  human  being 
has  an  intellectual  capacity.  Every  human  being  has  a 
physical  dress  or  house  in  which  he  lives.  Thus  every 


THE  DANGERS  OF  PSYCHISM. 


149 


human  being  can  develop  something  of  his  psychic  self, 
his  soul  sense.  Now  this  is  not  mediumship.  Through 
the  development  of  your  psychic  self  you  may  display 
wonderful  results  and  give  proof  of  many  departments  of 
life  and  of  many  activities  that  have  never  been  displayed 
before,  and  yet  give  no  proof  of  the  great  fact  of  immor- 
tality. Here  is  where  the  confusion  has  come.  Men 
have  thought  that  in  the  development  of  the  psychic  self 
they  were  developing  mediumship  and  have  presented  it  as 
such,  and  the  world  has  tested  it  in  many  directions  to 
gather  the  proofs  of  immortality  and  have  failed;  then 
have  they  questioned,  and  questioned  you  seriously  and 
legitimately. 

NOW  TO  BE  ABLE  to  psychometrize,  which  is  a line  of 
procedure  of  the  soul’s  consciousness,  is  not  mediumship. 
Now  you  who  may  possess  these  qualities,  I beseech  you 
to  not  be  disturbed,  but  to  learn  the  truth  that  you  may 
protect  yourselves.  Psychometry  allows  you  to  enter  into 
the  subtle  life  of  things  about  you.  It  will  reveal  the 
good,  bad  and  indifferent,  and  thus  become  a great  pro- 
tector to  you  and  those  whom  you  may  use  it  for. 

You  may  become  naturally  clairvoyant  or  experiment- 
ally clairvoyant.  There  are  two  phases  or  two  degrees  of 
this  development.  Experimental  clairvoyance  is  where 
some  individual  from  the  spirit  realm  draws  near  and 
projects  upon  the  optic  nerve  that  power  that  enlarges 
your  vision,  raises  it  until  you  can  see  into  the  vibratory 
relations  of  life  just  out  there.  You  can  only  do  it  when 
some  spirit  does  this,  and  thus  you  only  see  now  and  then, 
or  when  the  spirit  draws  near  and  performs  this  experi- 
ment with  you.  There  is  though,  now  and  then,  an  indi- 
vidual born  with  the  high  natural  tension  of  the  optic 
nerve  so  that  they  can  see  into  that  realm  of  life  without 
the  assistance  of  a spirit  from  the  other  side;  this  is  natu- 
ral clairvoyance,  but  this  is  only  with  a few. 

NOW  YOU  HAVE  COME  to  this  altar  of  psychic  life  in 
all  the  glee  and  merriment  and  anticipation  of  children. 
You  have  seen  that  out  of  it  has  come  much  good;  that  me- 
diumship has  brought  the  world  happiness;  it  has  brought 
to  the  world  some  glory.  It  has  placed  in  high  places 
some  of  those  who,  according  to  the  measurements  of  so- 
called  society  and  culture,  would  have  never  gained  them. 
Thus  it  has  touched  the  vanity  or  egotism  of  the  dawning 
age  in  which  you  live,  and  you  have  aspired  to  reach  these 
heights.  To  desire  to  stand  up  and  be  heard,  to  go  out 
and  be  lauded,  has  been  due  to  that  great  motive  power 
that  has  been  behind  this,  perhaps  unconsciously  to  some 
of  you  and  consciously  to  others.  You  have  placed  your- 
selves in  a negative  position  whereby  there  is  not  only  the 
law  of  the  spirit  realm  operating,  but  there  is  as_well  all 


150 


THE  DANGERS  OP  PSYCHISM. 


the  psychic  waves  of  mental  states  and  magnetic  auras  of 
this  life  playing  in  upon  you,  and  you  have  become  as  a 
great  sponge  in  that  negative  position  of  yours  that  ab- 
sorbs these  states,  and  then  later  you  experience  the  va- 
riety of  results  that  come,  some  in  mental  hysteria — for 
we  have  such — some  in  self-psychologized  position  and 
conditions;  others  where  there  is  a low  stage  of  intelli- 
gences from  the  first  spheres,  which  have  gradually  at- 
tached themselves  to  you,  not  for  good,  not  for  intelligence 
and  not  for  progress.  Thus  has  come  about  a great  va- 
riety of  disturbed  conditions  and  experiences;  but  as  these 
things  have  occurred — and  these  things  can  and  do  occur, 
we  would  say  that  the  development  of  the  psychic  self  is 
dangerous.  As  we  come  to  study  what  the  development  of 
the  psychic  self  really  is  we  find  this  out. 

NOW  AS  WE  SAY,  man  as  a physical  being  in  the  auto- 
matic realm  is  fatedi.  He  is  buffeted  by  circumstances. 
He  is  bound  by  environment;  and  thus  he  is  nothing  but 
simply  a machine  in  this  realm.  But  when  man  begins  to 
think  he  begins  to  be  something  of  a master.  And  you 
will  find  in  history  there  was  a period  when  a great  cry 
was  put  up  to  try  to  keep  man  from  thinking,  because  the 
world  did  not  wish — the  world  of  power,  I mean,  the 
world  of  systems,  the  world  of  pulse  did  not  wish  men  as 
a whole  to  become  thinkers. 

Thus  you  have  the  records  of  the  dark  ages  in  which 
all  those  who  did  were  put  to  death  in  some  manner,  and 
all  literature  was  burned  or  kept  for  the  exclusive  few. 
In  spite  of  all  these  efforts  the  great  thought  life  of  man 
would  and  did  develop,  in  spite  of  cults,  in  spite  of  opin- 
ions, in  spite  of  desires;  and  so  at  last  there  came  gradu- 
ally one  thinker  and  another  thinker  and  still  another, 
until  the  life  of  the  intellectual  man  was  born,  but  as  it 
was  being  born  there  were  many  persecutions.  Some 
were  burned  at  the  stake,  some  were  beheaded.  You 
might  as  well  have  said  in  that  day — and  it  was  said — to 
develop  the  intellecti^al  man  was  dangerous.  When  man 
begins  to  think,  you  cannot  lead  him,  you  cannot  control 
him,  you  cannot  submerge  him;  he  becomes  master  in  a 
great  degree  and  gradually  grows  to  be  more  and  more  so. 

Thus  we  find  that  to  become  free  thinkers,  even  as  free 
as  you  are  to-day,  has  cost  much  of  suffering  in  the  past, 
and  there  have  been  those  who  have  thought  along  foolish 
lines  who  have  made  the  best  use  of  the  intellect  they  did 
have,  who  have  brought  about  systematically  many  things 
that  are  detrimental  to  progress.  And  would  you  to- 
night say,  because  those  things  were,  that  it  was  danger- 
ous and  should  never  have  been  developed — freedom  of 
thought — the  Darwins?  Nay,  you  turn  with  pride  to  Ben- 
jamin Franklin  and  others,  America  has  been  and  is  a 


THE  DANGERS  OF  PSYCHISM. 


151 


burning  reason  of  the  great  power  of  the  intellectual  free- 
dom of  the  human  race.  There  is  no  nation  that  has 
given  so  much  to  the  world  in  so  short  a period  as  has 
America;  take  it  in  any  department  you  please,  and  she 
has  outstripped  them  all  in  the  same  period  of  time,  and 
it  is  because  the  mind  of  man  has  been  set  free  and  he  has 
been  given  the  liberties  of  his  intellectual  activities. 

And  while  some  men’s  thoughts  led  them  to  prison, 
other  men’s  thoughts  lead  humanity  along  the  lines  of 
progress,  love  and  justice.  Thus  we  find  that  the  good 
overrules  the  so-called  bad.  Thus  we  find  that  freedom 
and  development  of  any  of  the  qualities  of  man  have  been 
the  levers  upon  which  humanity  has  been  lifted  from  the 
animal  plane  toward  the  human,  and  will  yet  move  on  to- 
ward the  soul  man  that  is  to  live,  to  act  and  to  be  an  ex- 
pression upon  this  plane  of  life. 

THEN  WE  FIND  that  to  touch  the  great  psycliic  realm 
is  now  the  period  that  is  ours.  You  are  not  satisfied  then 
to  be  intellectual  giants;  you  are  not  satisfied  to  be  mas- 
ters of  physical  things  and  to  possess  the  world.  You 
wish  to  know  its  uses  and  its  associations.  You  have 
come  to  know  that  man  must  develop  the  soul  and  the 
soul-qualities  even  more  and  more.  You  were  not  satis- 
fied with  the  old  systems  of  mail  transportation;  you  have 
wrestled  in  thought  until  you  have  to-day  wireless  teleg- 
raphy. Thus  we  find  that  now  you  are  wondering,  you  are 
experimenting,  you  are  searching  out  the  great  system  of 
thought  transference — one  of  the  psychic  developments, 
the  consciousness  of  thought  striking  your  etheric  self  and 
conveying  to  the  psychic  consciousness  the  thought  of  oth- 
ers. Thought  transference  brings  to  us  with  rapidity  that 
which  the  old  way  could  not  bring  to  us,  and  thus  we  are 
not  satisfied  with  the  slow  methods  of  the  past,  but  must 
have  the  keener  and  better  that  we  know  can  and  do 
exist. 

We  find  that  as  man  comes  to  know  of  the  power  of  his 
thought  not  only  for  communication,  that  he  is  finding  the 
power  of  his  thought  in  healing  ways.  Thus  you  have  to- 
day mental  healing.  We  find  that  man  has  found  that 
out  of  his  thoughts  he  can  build,  and  so  you  are  being 
taught  that  thoughts  are  things,  which  is  another  error, 
misnomer.  Thoughts  are  not  things,  but  thoughts  are  po- 
tencies out  of  which  and  from  which  things  later  come. 
Thus  we  are  finding  the  great,  subtle  power  of  thoughts 
through  the  development  of  the  soul  consciousness  and  the 
use  of  them.  We  find  as  well  that  man  can  be  protected 
as  he  comes  to  know  of  things  from  this  department  and 
this  view  point  of  life.  Knowing  that  he  himself  is  a 
soul,  is  a psychic  development,  to  become  self-conscious  of 
your  own  soul  life  is  one  of  the  great  developments  of  the 
day  and  age  and  is  a psychic  development. 


152 


THE  DANGERS  OP  PSYCHISM. 


No  one  will  claim  that  it  is  dangerous  for  man  to  know 
the  eternity  of  their  existence  or  their  soul  potency.  We 
find  as  well  that  we  are  not  obliged  to  depend  on  the  slow 
methods  of  nerve  transportation  in  our  acquaintance  with 
man,  for  as  we  allow  the  intuitive,  the  concealed  soul  con- 
sciousness to  breathe  out  in  systematic  order  through  our 
entire  being  we  are  coming  to  feel,  not  to  fear  in  the  old 
way.  We  are  coming  to  know  the  world  from  a higher 
standpoint,  and  thus  we  are  coming  to  know  motives. 

NOW  WHEN  THE  PSYCHIC  SELF  is  being  developed, 
that  leads  especially  into  the  lines  of  psychometry.  You 
can  read  the  life  of  an  individual  and  from  the  psycho- 
metric side  you  can  read  the  motive  side  of  life,  not  the 
resultant  side,  you  read  the  motive  side.  Often  our  mo- 
tives are  clean,  but  the  result  in  outward  expression  is  not 
exactly  the  representation  that  we  intend,  for  it  comes 
through  the  color  of  environment  and  sense  interpretation. 
Thus  it  is  a great  protection.  It  has  lifted  up  to  a stand- 
point of  association  and  recognition  that  before  was  not 
known.  And  yet  in  this  realm  there  are  those  that 
would  try  to  buy  and  sell  these  things  which  are  given  to 
men  and  women  of  high  purpose  and  high  motive.  But 
yet,  I ask  you,  has  not  the  world  been  lifted  higher,  and  is 
it  not  better  for  having  developed  these  qualities  some- 
what, than  it  was  without  them?  And  I feel  that  you 
will  answer  back  that  it  has  most  assuredly  been  made 
better  instead  of  worse. 

Thus  we  may  say  that  in  the  development  of  the  psy- 
chic self,  while  there  are  dangers,  it  is  the  next  great  step; 
it  is  the  lever  that  will  lift  humanity  out  of  the  stage  of 
so-called  materialism,  out  of  the  cold  realm  of  the  purely 
intellectual  and  place  it  on  a higher  plane. 

WHAT  WE  WISH  TO  KNOW  and  what  we  must  come  to 
know  is  the  difference  between  the  development  of  me- 
diumistic  qualities  and  of  psychic  qualities.  Now  a psy- 
cliic  may  be  somewhat  mediumistic  and  a medium  may 
have  some  psycliic  development,  but  it  is  not  necessary  in 
either  way.  And  you  will  ask  us  how  are  we  to  know? 
You  can  know  of  these  things  by  studying  the  results  that 
come.  When  true  mediumship  is  being  displayed  you  will 
always  find  the  earmarks  of  a third  individual.  Watch 
for  individuality.  We  have  been  too  well  pleased  with 
generalities.  We  have  been  too  well  pleased  with  simply 
a display  of  psychometric  power,  and  so  we  have  been 
confused  and  have  thought  one  thing  and  another  thing. 
When  an  individual  has  simply  psychic  power,  you  go  to 
her  and  she  reads  your  life  back  to  you,  your  hopes,  your 
thoughts  and  your  conditions;  but  when  you  go  there  with 
one  thought  and  one  motive  and  she  brings  to  you  indi- 
vidual proof  of  life  continuous  and  the  individuality  of  the 
expression  of  that  life  though  it  is  in  direct  opposition  to 


THE  DANGERS  OF  PSYCHISM. 


153 


your  thought,  to  your  motives,  to  your  hopes,  then  you 
may  depend  on  it  you  will  find  that  is  actual  mediumship. 

There  are  seldom  lying  spirits,  though  this  has  been 
laid  at  the  door  of  mediumship  that  lying  spirits  come  so 
often.  I repeat,  in  the  demonstration  of  actual  medium- 
ship  it  seldom  occurs;  not  but  what  the  liar  and  the  thief 
return  the  same  as  the  teacher  and  scientist,  but  where 
actual  mediumship  exists  with  an  individual  consciousness 
of  its  great  power  and  work  it  seldom  occurs.  But  in  the 
lowest  strata  of  a partial  development  of  psychic  life,  in  a 
careless  negative  position  that  places  itself  in  that  rela- 
tion there  comes  the  demonstrations  not  only  of  the  lying 
spirits  but  of  lying  atmospheres. 

AS  I HAVE  SAID,  mediumsliip  is  like  a sponge,  in  the 
absorption  of  all  around  us  in  this  negative  condition,  and 
gives  it  out  again.  Thus  we  will  come  to  know  that  medi- 
umship is  of  divine  origin  and  divine  use.  It  is  the  door- 
way through  which  and  by  which  the  world  has  forever 
been  lifted.  It  is  the  doorway  through  which  every  pro- 
gressive step  and  thought  and  truth  has  come.  Thus 
come  to  appreciate  it.  Protect  it  as  you  would  and  do 
protect  musicians  and  artists  of  the  day  and  hour.  Come 
to  know  as  well  that  the  development  of  the  soul  man  lifts 
you  into  a commandery,  into  a great  associate  power  by 
which  you  can  better  serve  and  be  served,  and  reach  out 
not  in  a negative  way  but  in  a positive  way  of  develop- 
ment. 

Get  spiritual  by  developing  all  the  faculties.  Get  poise 
by  knowing  that  body,  mind  and  soul  are  the  great  trin- 
ity. Get  more  sensible  by  knowing  that  the  spirit  after 
death  is  no  more  settled  than  the  moment  before  death; 
that  a spirit  after  death  the  next  morning  is  no  wiser  than 
it  was  the  evening  before.  Banish  from  your  minds  the 
thought  that  spirits  have  supreme  power  to  manipulate  all 
conditions.  Banish  from  your  minds  the  thought  that  a 
denizen  from  the  life  beyond  must  give  and  can  give  a 
marvelous  demonstration  of  life  from  a miraculous  stand- 
point, and  then  you  will  have  saved  mediumship;  then  you 
will  have  secured  to  yourselves  much  of  the  blessing  that 
belongs  in  this  great  realm. 

I SAY,  THOUGH  THERE  IS  A CRY  that  the  develop- 
ment of  the  psychic  life  is  dangerous,  though  there  have 
come  through  the  bad  use  of  mediumship  unfortunate  re- 
sults, yet  it  is  the  morning  star,  it  is  the  next  great  step 
that  humanity  must  take,  the  same  as  man  has  come  into 
intellectual  freedom,  the  same  as  man  has  come  into  a 
certain  physical  freedom  as  well,  so  in  the  great  march  of 
progress  and  power  must  the  psychic  self  be  unfolded  and 
developed. 

Now  to  enter  into  how  this  should  be  done  would  call 
for  another  hour  and  we  cannot  give  it  this  evening.  But 


154 


THE  DANGERS  OF  PSYCHISM. 


in  response  to  those  who  are  feeling  that  Spiritualism  is 
being  dragged  in  the  mud  and  mire  until  they  must  let  the 
ship  go,  I will  say  this:  Spiritualism  contains  the  all-in- 
clusive truth  that  man  is  capable  of  using.  You  will  find 
that  Spiritualism  has  taken  you  away  from,  and  outside 
of,  all  cults,  all  systems,  all  previous  opinions.  Spiritual- 
ism is  greater  than  all  the  religious  systems  of  the  past. 
Spiritualism  is  larger  than  all  the  systems  of  philosophy 
which  have  come  and  gone.  Spiritualism  is  too  broad  for 
cults.  Spiritualism  is  the  great  philosophy  of  life  based 
on  scientific  fact  that  asks  you  to  walk  upon  the  path  of 
life.  There  may  be,  like  the  old  mythological  stories,  an 
iron  side  where  we  are  fated  and  bound  by  environment 
and  inheritance;  there  is  another  side  where  you  come 
into  the  glitter  of  the  senses  which  lies  in  the  physical. 
There  is  a silver  side  where  man  begins  to  look  out  and  get 
the  glittering  power  of  intellectual  freedom,  but  there  is 
a golden  side  toward  the  morning  sun  glistening  with  all 
its  golden  rays  that  tells  you  that  wisdom  is  the  great  por- 
tion of  mankind  and  it  is  to  be  gained  somewhat  here. 

THUS  BE  NOT  DISCOURAGED,  you  Spiritualists  who 
feel  that  Spiritualism  is  waning.  I say  to  you  now,  you 
have  cast  your  bread  upon  the  waters  and  after  many 
days  it  shall  return  to  you.  In  the  confusion  and  misun- 
derstanding of  its  phenomenal  side  and  your  lack  of  the 
application  of  its  philosophical  side  you  have  come  into 
the  present  condition,  but  Spiritualism  is  living;  the  world 
is  eating  from  its  table.  It  has  been  the  life  and  power 
and  doorway  that  has  brought  comfort,  that  has  brought 
beauty,  that  has  brought  revelation,  that  has  nearly 
brought  into  existence  the  new  era  that  now  is  yours  and 
will  yet  more  and  more  be  yours. 

Thus  cling  to  the  ship  that  has  brought  you  this  truth. 
When  you  desert  it  as  rats  desert  a sinking  ship  and  leave 
it  to  those  who  misuse  its  work,  then  you  are  cowardly. 
No  battle  was  ever  won  by  fear.  No  man  masters  in  any 
department  by  giving  up  at  the  first  failure.  No  principle 
was  ever  defeated  because  the  first  experiment  along  its 
line  was  not  successful. 

Go,  read  the  history  of  actual  mediumship.  Go,  read 
the  history  of  men  as  they  have  developed  the  spiritual 
side  of  life  and  come  to  know  that  in  all  cases  has  the 
world  been  made  better.  A few  individuals  may  have  lost 
through  the  great  standard  of  men’s  opinions;  they  may 
have  gone  through  some  suffering,  but  not  in  proportion  to 
the  great  good  it  has  done.  It  is  but  a drop  in  the  bucket, 
and  we  find  that  all  life  has  succeeded  and  risen  through 
the  gateway  of  pain;  so  that  we  say  though  there  have 
been  seeming  failures  and  there  are  many  dangers,  the 
world  is  better  with  it  than  it  possibly  could  be  without  it, 
and  to  our  cults  and  friends  that  are  warning  the  world 


THE  DANGERS  OF  PSYCHISM.  155 

against  it  we  would  say  as  they  say  to  their  listeners,  use 
common  sense. 

NOW  HERE  IS  THE  PLACE  to  use  common  sense. 
You  cannot  build  a cult  that  will  follow  any  one  teacher  or 
two  or  three  teachers  and  let  the  world  in  general  be  free. 
You  cannot  allow  the  world  to  express  the  great  democracy 
of  its  nature  and  build  up  a cult.  Mrs.  Eddy  never  would 
have  built  Christian  Science  to  the  mammoth  stage  that  it 
is  if  she  had  let  her  friends  and  followers  go  free  in  the 
world  and  eat  from  the  great  democratic  table  of  knowl- 
edge. She  has  held  them  to  the  table  of  ism,  and  it  is 
Eddyism.  She  has  given  to  them  stolen  truths  that  she 
filched  from  old  Dr.  Quimby.  She  has  placed  upon  the 
altar  the  spirit  revelations  of  a wonderful  mind  at  the 
price  of  Mrs.  Eddy’s  full  concept  of  eternal  fame. 

We  would  say  to  the  Theosophical  friends  who  are 
afraid  of  the  elementals  and  allowing  other  people  to  de- 
velop the  side  of  their  nature,  if  they  allow  all  their  fol- 
lowers to  develop  to  the  entirety  of  their  being  they  will 
find  not  that  a Mme.  Blavatsky  or  Col.  Olcott  or  Annie 
Besant  can  be  their  leader,  for  when  men  are  free  they 
come  to  lead  themselves.  Then  there  comes  in  all  the  devel- 
opment of  nature;  then  there  comes  diversity  of  opinion, 
diversity  of  methods,  diversity  of  intellectual  develop- 
ment. So  we  can  see  wherein  there  are  dangers — not  to 
man  but  to  the  cult;  not  to  the  race  but  to  their  ism.  And 
so  we  would  say  use  your  common  sense;  you  cannot  even 
afford  to  fear  it;  you  can  learn  to  control  it. 

THOUGH  IT  HAS  ENGULFED  hundreds  and  thousands 
of  human  beings  in  its  ravages,  you  are  not  afraid  of  the 
mighty  ocean.  Though  there  have  been  many  ships  sunk 
on  its  bosom  that  have  never  arisen,  you  have  learned  to 
master  it,  and  through  its  mastery  you  have  gained  great 
benefits.  Though  there  have  been  those  who  have  fallen 
by  the  wayside  through  half-developed  mediumship  from 
this  misunderstanding  of  the  psychic  self,  yet  the  message 
from  the  other  world  has  touched  all  mortal  minds,  until 
hell  no  longer  is;  its  sulphurous  fires  have  been  put  out 
and  it  has  been  lifted  coequal  with  heaven.  We  have 
found  the  golden  stairs  of  heaven  have  been  melted  until 
knowledge  has  come  and  the  pearly  gates  have  fallen  and 
there  has  come  only  now  a thin  veil,  and  we  have  medium- 
ship  that  lifts  that  veil  and  sees  into  and  brings  back  to 
us  comfort,  and  furnished  a basis  that  has  dried  up  the 
tears  and  has  brought  heaven  down  to  the  bosom  of  earth. 

My  friends,  it  is  only  as  the  soul  man  has  been  devel- 
oped, this  psychic  life,  and  man’s  consciousness  and  abil- 
ity to  appreciate  and  to  understand  and  use  these  things, 
that  your  tears  have  been  dried.  Then  hold  fast  the  sa- 
cred truth  and  use  your  common  sense.  Remember  life 
has  many  departments.  Remember  that  man  has  many 


156 


THE  DANGERS  OF  PSYCHISM. 


needs,  that  man  must  be  free  to  unfold  and  develop  all  of 
these;  and  we  would  say  that  if  you  want  to  serve  hu- 
manity in  the  development  of  the  psychic  self,  begin  to 
live,  to  learn  to  live  here  and  now. 

SPIRITUALISM  IS  THE  PHILOSOPHY  of  life  and 
teacher  of  the  now.  You  have  not  got  to  die  to  find  your 
soul;  it  is  here.  You  have  not  got  to  wait  until  to-mor- 
row to  have  opportunities;  they  are  here.  We  must  not 
put  off  beginning  now,  and  when  we  begin  to  live  as  spir- 
its and  souls  and  men,  with  all  that  this  means,  then  our 
dangers  will  fade  and  fade  and  fade  away  until  you  will 
find  that  out  of  it  will  come  the  great  peace  and  prosperity 
and  comforts  that  have  come  to  you  through  genius,  intel- 
lectual freedom  and  physical  possessions,  to  the  soul  of 
man.  Being  born  to  know,  comes  through  the  efforts  of 
pain.  Step  from  thought  into  consciousness,  leaving  be- 
hind the  blind  chance  of  physical  states  automatic,  and  sit- 
ting at  the  table  of  control  and  mastery,  has  been  a great 
experience.  It  has  brought  its  sufferings,  its  shadows, 
its  tears;  but  each  tear  is  glistening  warm  that  has  shown 
to  us  the  greater  beauty  of  soul  of  man.  Each  pain  has 
awakened  in  us  a consciousness  that  there  is  something 
more  to  learn. 

EACH  MASTERY  OF  THE  LAWS  of  physical  things  has 
shown  us  the  great  infinitude  even  of  mind.  We  have 
chained  man  to  limitations.  We  have  bound  him  down  to 
the  wheels  of  criticism  and  measured  greed.  We  are  try- 
ing to  keep  him  within  the  fold  of  limitations,  and  yet  he 
will  not  stay  but  will  outward  go,  and  so  the  spirit  of  the 
age  is  progress. 

The  morning  star  is  the  light  of  understanding,  and  it  is 
leading  us  away,  and  we  must  develop,  to  be  able  to  use 
all  that  comes  to  us  from  day  to  day. 

Be  of  courage,  be  brave,  and  come  to  know  you  must 
protect  your  soul  development,  your  thoughts,  with  as 
much  care  as  you  protect  the  body  from  the  storms  and 
winds  that  come  and  blast  it  when  unprotected.  Oh!  come 
to  know  that  you  must  build  about  you  a temple  rich  and 
pure,  and  so  doing,  lift  yourselves  into  the  song  of  vibra- 
tory life  until  the  lowest  spheres  cannot  touch,  but  will 
withdraw,  feeling  the  power  from  your  garment  as  you 
pass  by.  Then  simply  come  and  learn  of  self,  the  spirit 
of  this  being,  and  protect  it  with  the  understanding  of 
common  things,  and  you  may  ride  safely  through  the 
storms  of  life  and  not  lose  but  gain,  and  in  that  gaining 
give  to  humanity  that  which  will  give  to  it  more  life.  Oh! 
mediumship  and  self-consciousness,  ye  are  the  higher 
temples  of  the  living  man,  to  live  and  know  that  life 
reaches  each  wave,  and  will  never  stop,  but  must  upward 
and  outward  go  from  day  to  day. 


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